Cornbread + Stuffing

I wanted to make Chris Thanksgiving dinner because he stayed in Boston alone to study for the CFA exam. I knew that bag stuffing was not going to be on the menu since its kind of bland and dry. I figured a cornbread stuffing would be the best. I started by making this cornbread. It was amazing! Please please please make it, you will love it. I think it would  be good if you added a can of creamed corn to the recipe too. I'm going to try that soon! 


The stuffing recipe came from epicurious.com and is as follows:


2 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 bay leaf 
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage (I used dry, regular spice jar sage and it was fine)
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 4 cups stale corn bread, crumbled into large pieces
• 2 large eggs, beaten

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 425°F and grease 9-by 13-inch roasting pan. (I just used a regular casserole dish and didn't grease it)

2. In large skillet over moderately high heat, melt butter. Add onion, celery, garlic, nutmeg, pepper, and bay leaf, and sauté until vegetables soften, 5 to 6 minutes. 

3. Stir in sage and cook 30 seconds more. 

4. Stir in stock and simmer, uncovered, until liquid is reduced by half, about 3 minutes.

5. Put corn bread in large bowl and pour vegetables over. (I would grab the bay leaf out at this point...bay leaf is good but not something you want to come across in your bite). Toss to mix well. 

6. Add eggs and stir to combine.

7. Bake for approximately 20-30 minutes. (Epicurious didn't post a time because they wanted me to stuff the turkey, which I refuse to do...so I am just guessing how long I had mine in the oven. You just want it to get slightly drier than when you started...just don't burn it!)

I made a few mistakes in this recipe. First of all, I didn't have "stale" cornbread so I just crumbled it up onto a baking sheet and popped it in the oven for about.... 20 minutes on 325 degrees (I only picked that temperature because I was roasting the turkey at the same time). This made the cornbread toasted and not quite the same as stale but good enough. I also totally forgot to add the eggs. I think I had the cornbread in the oven for 15 minutes before I looked over and saw 2 eggs sitting in a bowl and realized I missed a step. I added them at that point and it turned out great anyway! I'm sure you could skip them altogether and it would be fine since they were only there as a binding agent to hold things together. 

Here is a picture of our mini-Thanksgiving feast! By  the way, make your mashed potatoes with garlic powder and sour cream... YUM!