Sausage & Fennel Cornbread Stuffing

Stuffing or dressing?

I just learned this past week from a coworker that people call stuffing dressing. Which if I am being honest, makes sense because you are not stuffing the turkey with it (typically) these days. But, you also are not using it to dress the turkey either.. so I am going to stick with what I know, and that is stuffing, which is arguably one of the best dishes on the Thanksgiving table.

This was my first time making stuffing. I did not realize that it takes sort of a while. This is because in order to have a good stuffing, you need to dry out your cornbread first.

Cameron and I got to escape to Hill Country this weekend for a day (we finally both had a weekend day off!). It was the perfect getaway, lot’s of wine and cheese, trees, and time with a family friend. However, we did not arrive home until about 3 PM on Sunday and our Friendsgiving was starting at 4. Thus begins my stuffing making adventure.

I had to buy pre-made cornbread, which I will give it to Randall’s, was very good. But it still needed to dry out for ~45 minutes in the oven at 350. I decided to get pre-dried out bread as well and do a half cornbread half bread mix, to avoid the stuffing from being overly sweet. If you are in a time crunch like I was, this worked super well and I still had lots of flavor thanks to all of the fresh herbs.

Luckily, our friendsgiving was being held in our own apartment complex, so no I was not able to get the stuffing done by 4, but it was done by 4:45 PM and I was able to go up and down to check on it for that time. Needless to say, I would give yourself a solid 2 hours if volunteering to do the stuffing for Friendsgiving!

Just a side note before I go into the recipe–this is Cameron and my first Thanksgiving away from both of our families. We couldn’t swing getting home and the feelings have slowly been creeping up on us. However, as I sat around my Friendsgiving table I couldn’t help but to be so thankful and overjoyed that we have met such incredible people here in Houston in the short time that we have been here. We have so much to be thankful for this year. I am constantly reminded of how lucky I am to have such an amazing support system in both my family and friends who got me through awaiting match day, celebrated mine and Cameron’s engagement, supported me through a huge life move, and continuously reach out no matter how far away we are now; and for my new friends here, who embraced us strangers into their kickball team and became lifelong friends within weeks after. I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving! Always let those you care about know how thankful you are for them 🙂

Now moving onto the good stuff(ing)!

Ingredients:

-4 cups cornbread, cut into cubes

-2 cups dried, sliced bread (you can find this at your local grocery, especially around Thanksgiving!)

-5 pre-cooked breakfast sausage links, chopped or crumbled

-4 stalks celery, sliced

-1/2 large, yellow onion, diced

-1 small fennel bulb, chopped

-3 cloves garlic, minced

-3 T butter

-3 T fresh parsley, chopped

-3 fresh sage leaves, chopped

-2 sprigs fresh rosemary

-5 springs fresh thyme, leaves off (unsure if this is a word)

-2 pinches dried oregano

-1.5 cups chicken broth

-2 eggs plus 1 yolk, beaten

-Salt and pepper

-Optional: 1/2 cup dried cranberries and/or 1/2 cup pecans

-Fennel sprigs for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cubed cornbread on non stick pan and bake ~1 hour, flipping halfway through. Remove and allow to cool completely.
2. While cornbread is drying out in the oven, add butter, onions, fennel, celery, garlic, and rosemary sprigs to a pan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently for ~5 minutes until fragrant and onions are lightly browned. Remove rosemary sprigs after.
3. In a large bowl, add herbs (parsley, sage, thyme, oregano), sausage, and vegetable mixture. Add cornbread and dried bread to bowl. Pour in chicken broth and stir until all bread is covered, adding another 1/2 cup broth if needed. *You want the bread to be moist but not mushy*. Then add egg mixture and mix to combine. *Mixing during this whole step should be gentle flipping motions*. Add salt and pepper.
4. Transfer mixture to a lightly oiled (or buttered) baking pan (I used a disposable 9×13 tray for convenience). Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove, remove foil and mix gently, then place back into oven (without foil) and increase heat to 400. Bake for another 30-35 minutes.
5. Optional: with 15-20 minutes left, remove to add walnuts.
6. Add cranberries at end. Garnish with fennel sprigs and enjoy with family and friends!