Difficulty 1/5
In general I’m not a fan of stuffing. It bothers me that it’s all watery, and to be honest I don’t think it’s very hygenic to cook it inside the turkey because it will reach a safe temperature after the turkey does, so you either overcook the turkey or eat unsafe stuffing. I just don’t fancy it. Howeeeeever, I recently discovered that there are people who cook it apart, I think they call it “dressing”, and so I thought I would give it a try, and I LOVED IT! I ate it and thought “now we’re talking!” The sausage I bought is very neutral because we’re using the meat inside which goes amazing with the apples (Granny Smith and Pink Lady) and the toasted baguette.
Portions: 6-8 people as a side
Ingredients:
– 1 baguette
– 300g pork sausage, the most neutral you can find without added flavours. You will feel the quality in this recipe, so speng a little extra than you would for a grill.
– 100g white onion
– 1 stick celery (50g)
– 4 garlic tooth
– 20ml olive oil
– 50ml apple or apple cider vinegar
– 1 Granny Smith apple
– 1 Pink Lady apple or similar (a type that has half red and half green or yellow)
– 300ml chicken and turkey stock (you can see the recipe here) or chicken stock
– Leaves from 6 sprigs of thyme
– Salt and pepper to taste
– 30g unsalted butter
Procedure:
1. Cut the onion really small and make it sweat in the olive oil on low heat until it’s translucent and soft.
2. Cut the celery stick in half lengthways and then slice it thinly. Also grate the garlic finely and add both to the onion and let them sweat on low heat, also. Stir every so ofter so the garlic doesn’t burn. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Don’t over season though, remember the sausage also has salt in it.
3. Cut the sausage’s skin and remove the filling. Mix it with the thyme leaves. If you like the turkey’s liver and heart, chop them up and add them now. You can usually find them inside the turkey in a bag.
4. Add this to the onion and cook it while you separate it using a spatula or spoon. Once cooked, remove from the pan and reserve.
5. Add the vinegar to the pan and let it boil until it reduces completely. While it boils, scrape whatever is left from the cooking on the pan using a spatula or spoon. This releases a lot more flavour.
6. Add the apples (cored, skin on) and cook them until they have softened. Remove them and add them to the previous mix.
7. Cut the baguette in cubes and dry them in the oven at 120C for 5-10min until they are nice and crunchy. They will not become golden at this point. Mix the bread with the rest of ingredients and the warm stock and put on a oven-safe plate.
8. This goes in the oven for 10min at 170C. Then remove it and give it a stir. Then it goes back in for another 10min. Finally, take it out and put the butter, cut in cubes, on top to get it golden. It goes back in the last 10min or until it’s nice and golden on top.
¡Done and ready! It’s amazing how good it smells, it’s packed with flavour and golden on top instead of all slimy and wet hahaha. Enjoy!
