Here is the Recipe Redux for November and the theme is “A Food Memory For Which You Are Thankful: In the US, November marks the Thanksgiving holiday. But many of us are especially thankful for food memories we have shared with friends or relatives throughout our lives. Was it a special meal you ate as a child? Or, maybe it was a food you grew and harvested with your own children.”
This couldn’t be a more perfect theme for November, because Thanksgiving has so much rich tradition in my family and I have many, many memories to pull from, but I immediately knew exactly the memory(s) I wanted to showcase. This Southern Classic Sage Dressing was always made by my Mimi (grandmother on my dad’s side) and it has always my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner! I vividly remember my Mimi chopping onions and celery and pouring in the chicken stock just before she put it into the oven. I can still smell the sage and onion baking in the oven, so yum! She has since passed away, but my dad and I have kept the tradition alive and I know she would approve 🙂 This dressing is still a cornerstone of our Thanksgiving meal! 🙂
This is actually a really simple but delicious recipe, maybe it will become part of your holiday tradition too. 🙂
Start with 4, yes 4 Tbsp of butter…this is Thanksgiving after all, so I pull out all the stops!
Once your butter melts (or browns in this case…its all the cooking rage now, right?) Add a bunch of diced onions and celery.
Allow the onion and celery to saute for about 5 min, then add a bunch of minced garlic. Btw, have you seen my garlic peeling tip?
Allow the garlic, celery and onions to cook for another few minutes, then add about 4 cups of chicken broth to deglaze the pan (get all the yummy bits stuck to the bottom of the pan). Simmer this for 5-10mins depending on how long it takes to chop your herbs below.
Add your chopped Parsley, rosemary, thyme and sage (dried) to the onion mixture and stir.
For this dressing recipe I use white bread and corn bread. I use a store bought dried white bread cubes and use my cornbread recipe. I cube the cornbread and combine it with about 4 cups of the cubed white bread.
Pour the onion/celery mixture over the bread and gently combine. The liquid makes the bread shrink so at this point you can add the additional 2 cups of white bread for a total of 6 cups.
Take you prepared 9×13 pan (I used butter to coat it) and…
The well mixed bread herb mixture. It will be pretty dry at this the point, so this is where you add the additional broth.
I add 4-5more cups of broth directly to the pan. Not sure if you can tell from this picture, but your dressing will look pretty soupy. This is good because it drys out pretty easily.
Bake this at 350 degree for 30 – 40mins until all the moisture is absorbed, it started to brown and the edges start to pull away from the sides.
Simply Gorgeous. Enjoy!
- 6 cups of cubed white or wheat bread
- 1 cornbread recipe (~6 cups), I use my Buttermilk Cornbread Recipe
- 1½ cup onion, diced
- 1½ cup celery, chopped
- 5-6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 pinches of Coarse sea Salt
- ½ tsp fresh ground pepper
- 4 Tbsp butter (can decrease if not Thanksgiving 😉 )
- 8-9 cups of chicken broth (I know its a lot, but it makes a ton!)
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 2 Tbsp fresh rosemary
- 1 Tbsp fresh thyme
- 1 Tbsp dried Sage
- Melt butter in large dutch oven, add onion, celery, salt and pepper . Saute for 5 mins or so. Add minced garlic, saute for additional 5-10min on low so not to scorch the garlic.
- Add 4 cups of chicken broth and herbs to the onion mixture and stir, make sure to scarp of the things that are sticking to the bottom of the pan, they are very flavorful!
- In a large mixing bowl add the cubed cornbread and 4 cups of the cubed white bread. Stir the onion/herb mixture into the bread. This will cause the bread to shrink so you can add the additional 2 cups of cubed bread at this point if needed.
- Pour the bread mixture into a prepared 9x13 pan. Dressing will be dry at this point, so add additional 4-5cups of chicken broth to make very moist.
- Bake in 350degree oven for 30-40minutes until all the extra liquid is absorbed and the sides are browning and pulling away from the sides a bit.
- Enjoy!
