The Stuff of Thanksgiving

I can't imaging Thanksgiving without stuffing. This year my sister-in-law, Julie (yes, we have our very own chef Julie!) made an outstanding sausage stuffing. Knowing she was bringing that for Thanksgiving day, I explored the possibilities of a cornbread stuffing because everyone in our family loves cornbread. This is a basic recipe, but there are endless variations of this basic stuffing – consider using chopped marinated artichoke hearts or marinated mushrooms or re-hydrated shitake mushrooms, or... well – you get it.

Cornbread Stuffing
1 recipe Cheddar Cornbread (below) – about 8 cups

1 red pepper, diced
2 onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ lb Linguica, Chorizo or Andoille sausage, finely diced
3 fresh corn cobs, kernels removed

2 eggs
½ cup heavy cream
3 cups chicken broth
¼ cup parsley, minced
2 tbsp sundried tomatoes, minced

Preheat oven to 375. Cut cornbread into ½-inch cubes. Toast cubes in a 350-degree oven for about 10-15 minutes, or until edges begin to brown – toss once or twice. Meanwhile, sauté onion and pepper in a bit of olive oil until beginning to soften, about 5-8 minutes. Add garlic and cook another 2 minutes. Add sausage heat through.

Whisk together eggs, cream, broth, parsley, cilantro and tomatoes. Toss cornbread with sausage mixture, and corn and tip into a large greased 10x15-inch pan. Pour egg mixture evenly over stuffing. Bake 30 min covered, 20-30 min uncovered.

Cheddar Corn Bread
Dry Ingredients:
3 cups flour
¾ cup cornmeal
¼ cup coarse cornmeal
½ cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp baking powder
2 tsp Kosher salt
1 tsp red pepper flakes
½ tsp dried dill weed

Wet ingredients:
3 eggs
2 cups milk
2 sticks butter, melted

2 cups grated Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Pour wet mixture into dry and fold just to mix – do not worry about few dry lumps. Pour into a greased 13x9 pan. Bake 30-40 minutes, until top is browned and toothpick comes out clean.