Recipe: Sausage and Herb Bread Stuffing (using Challah bread and dried fruit)

SAUSAGE AND HERB BREAD STUFFING

1 1/2 loaves (16 ounces each) Challah or other rich egg bread, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 package (10 ounces) fresh or frozen (thawed) pork sausage meat
1/2 cup margarine or butter (1 stick), cut up
6 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1 jumbo onion (about 12 ounces), chopped
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
1 cup loosely packed fresh parsley leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage leaves
2 cans (14 to 14 1/2 ounces each) chicken broth (3 1/2 cups)
1 package (7 ounces) chopped mixed dried fruit (about 1 1/4 cups)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Divide bread between two 15 1/2 by 10 1/2-inch jelly-roll pans. Place pans on 2 oven racks and toast bread 15 minutes or until golden, rotating pans between upper and lower racks halfway through toasting, and stirring once. (If not completing stuffing now, cool toasted bread; store in plastic bag at room temperature up to 1 week.)

Meanwhile, heat nonstick 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add sausage and cook 5 to 8 minutes or until sausage is browned, breaking up sausage with side of spoon. With slotted spoon, transfer sausage to very large bowl. Discard any fat remaining in skillet.

In same skillet, melt margarine over medium heat. Add celery, onion, salt, and pepper, and cook 20 minutes or until vegetables are very soft, stirring occasionally. Stir in parsley, thyme, and sage, and cook 2 minutes longer.

While vegetables are cooking, in 2-quart saucepan, heat broth and dried fruit to boiling over high heat. Remove saucepan from heat.

To bowl with sausage, add vegetable mixture, broth with dried fruit, and bread cubes; toss to mix well. Use to stuff 12- to 16-pound turkey. Or spoon stuffing into greased 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish or shallow 3 1/2-quart casserole.

Cover with foil and bake in preheated 325 degrees F oven 30 minutes. Remove cover; bake 15 minutes longer or until heated through and lightly browned on top.

Makes about 14 cups
Source: Good Housekeeping magazine, Nov 2002

Hi Brenda,

We're so sorry about the hardships and losses you've had to endure. I hope someone will have the exact recipe that you're looking for to share. In the meantime, you may want to try the above recipe using dried cranberries in place of the mixed dried fruit. It makes a very large amount but you can divide the recipe in half or freeze half of the stuffing for another time. This doesn't have the chicken breasts that you mentioned, but you probably remember how they were added to the stuffing. Maybe diced cooked chicken breasts were mixed into the stuffing along with the sausage. If it was baked as a casserole, I think a layer of this stuffing would be very tasty used in place of the stuffing mix in these recipes (of course, because your stuffing is all made, you wouldn't have to add the butter and/or chicken broth to the stuffing as the called for when using the packaged stuffing mix):

Chicken and Stuffing Casserole

Not Your Normal Chicken Casserole

I tried searching the Sun Herald archives online but couldn't come up with a match to your recipe. Here is their contact information if you want to give that a try:

Archives/past issues
library@sunherald.com
(228) 896-2308

Features
living@sunherald.com
(228) 896-2424

Please feel free to let us know if we can help you find any other recipes.

Happy Holiday Cooking!

Betsy