TH Cooks: Sausage Leek Dressing/Stuffing

Pro-Tip: Don't let the broiler get away from you or else you'll get some black spots on the bread. It's still really good though.
Photo Credit: TH

I posted this recipe back when Holzerman Hungers was on Tumblr, but it's a Thanksgiving staple here at the ol' homestead. Stuffing, or dressing if you're making it separate and not stuffing it in the bird, is a must on any Thanksgiving plate. When I was younger and spent Thanksgiving with my family, we used to have two stuffings/dressings on the table, one with potatoes and one with sausage. In addition to being super-starchy, the potato stuffing was usually bland. The sausage stuffing, however, was the best thing on the table most of the time. However, when I got engaged, I started eating Thanksgiving with Amanda's family. Their stuffing contains livers and giblets and other pieces of offal. I respect the dedication to using all the turkey, but it's just not my bag. So in order to have stuffing on my plate on Thanksgiving, I started making my own when we got married and started hosting it at our house.

So, why sausage and leeks? Well, I kinda wanted to add something aromatic, something pungent, something green, and I didn't wanna commit to the green onions. Leeks have a sort of French flair to them anyway. I also used Italian sausage, because I've grown up eating it, both with Sunday gravy and grilled. It's my favorite sausage and works well with both bread and leeks. Speaking of the bread, I use challah. The Jewish loaf is rich and slightly sweet, and adds to the flavor profile. So, the ingredients:

• One (1) loaf challah
• One (1) lb. Italian sausage (I used sweet, but if you're spicy, feel free to use the hot)
• One (1) leek
• One (1) egg
• Chicken stock
• Seasoning (salt, pepper, garlic powder)
• Butter

You will need a baking dish and a baking sheet. And now, the steps:

1. Cube the bread. I usually go with a rough cut, one cubic inch, but you can go finer if you like.
2. Finely chop the leeks. Set them aside.
3. Brown the sausage. Squeeze each link out of its casing and put it in a skillet over medium heat. Keep working it as it browns, breaking it down into smaller pieces as it browns. You don't want GIANT chunks of sausage in your stuffing/dressing. Remove the sausage, leaving the pork fat behind.
4. Put the leeks in the same skillet you took the sausage out of. Season liberally with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Saute the leeks in the rendered pork fat until they are translucent. Drain and set aside.
5. Using a stick of butter, grease up your baking dish. Then spread the bread cubes down on the dish.
6. Beat the egg, season it with salt and pepper, and then pour on top of the bread.
7. Pour chicken stock on the bread and mix together until uniform. You may need to keep adding in the stock until it gets nice and squishy, but not saturated.
8. Add the browned sausage and the sauteed leeks to the baking dish and mix again until everything is uniformly distributed.
9. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Put your dish on a baking sheet and insert on the middle rack. Cook covered with aluminum foil for between 45 and 60 minutes, until it's not squishy but it's not entirely firm. Then take the foil off and cook for an additional ten to 20 minutes until it's firmed up. Broil for another five-ten minutes if you want a browned top.

There. You now have a fine dressing. Remember, it's not stuffing if you don't put it in the bird, but hey, try stuffing your turkey or chicken or goose or whatever with this stuff. Again, my wife's family has their own stuffing that they love and eat up, but if you want to put it in your protein of choice, try it and get back to me on how it turns out.