It’s all good. No, really. Stuff some stuff inside some other stuff, and I’m there. Stuffed peppers, chiles rellenos, dolmas… Stuff it and call me for dinner. I don’t know why it is, but I love stuffing. I even have a “stuffed things” tag, fer heaven’s sake!
When I decided to move Thanksgiving for that blog event I’ll tell you all about tomorrow, one of my challenges was making Mom Food stuffing without using gluten. Mom uses store-bought stuffing mix (usually Mrs. Cubbison’s or Pepperidge Farm, whichever’s cheaper). Store-bought stuffing mix is like little cubical gluten pills. Gluten delivery devices in tiny bread cubes. NOT appropriately gluten-free, no sirree.
Enter Ener-G gluten-free tapioca loaf. I know. Weird. But damned if this didn’t make some kick-ass stuffing that my mom would’ve served happily. I’ll give you the recipe tomorrow, using the tapioca bread to make the stuffing mix, but here’s how mom makes her stuffing, just so you know. It’s simple and delicious, like most everything my mom makes.
I love sausage and oysters and nuts and fruits and all that stuff in stuffing, but if you do that, you’re no longer making my Mom Food.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Joan’s Stuffing for Turkey
1 large bag store-bought stuffing cubes (not cornbread)
1 onion
3 ribs celery
4 tablespoons butter
turkey stock or chicken stock, optional
Chop onion and celery as finely or coarsely as you prefer. Saute in butter with salt and pepper to taste, until vegetables are quite soft. Mix with bread cubes and add enough stock to just moisten (or make it wetter if that’s what you prefer). If you’re cooking the stuffing in the bird, you want it to start out drier than if you’re doing it as separate dressing. If the latter, add more stock until the bread is quite moist.
Bake in the bird, or place in a heavy baking dish and refrigerate until 30 minutes before dinner, then bake at whatever temp you’re using for whatever’s in the oven at the time for 20-30 minutes, or until heated through.
Interesting. I’ve never made my own stuffing before, just the simple Stove Top. I may give a homemade one a try this year!
Oh, yes, do give it a try; even if you only use the Pepperidge Farm cubes and add your own onion/celery/broth, it’s even better than Stove Top. (I, of course, like Stove Top just fine, because hey, it’s stuffing, but the stuff you make yourself is less salty, and less processed-tasting. I also like that it tastes like the bird rather than like powdered chicken bouillon.)
I love stuffing… or dressing as it’s called here. It surprisingly enough, is one of the harder things to make in a vegetarian way well. Or at lest it was for me.
I think cause the vegetarian versions are made in a side dish and not the bird. This is my first visit to your blog so I haven’t had a chance to look through your recipes yet, but have you tried any stuffing versions with apple juice instead of the broth?
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I prefer my stuffing savory, rather than sweet, so when I was a vegetarian, I used either vegetable stock or commercial “unchicken” broth. I found the key to good vegetarian/vegan stuffing was using plenty of fat and plenty of onions and celery.
(Here, we call it dressing if it’s not inside the bird; stuffing if it’s, well, stuffed.)
I’m with you – I love stuffing in anything! And who doesn’t want a kick-ass stuffing recipe in their repertoire?! I often make my grandmother’s stuffing made with saltine crackers and the last couple of years I have made one that has chorizo in it which seems to be the one my family asks me to make now. This one looks simple to make, but it looks yummy!
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