Cornbread Sage Dressing
Dressing is great any time of year with pork roasts, baked chicken or even hamburger steaks with mushroom gravy; it's not just for Thanksgiving!
Stove Top Stuffing was introduced in 1972 by General Foods which was acquired by food giant conglomerate Kraft Foods in 1989. It was a big deal because up until that time, stuffing was something really only made around Thanksgiving and it was made from scratch. As the name implies, this was a convenient and quick way to make stuffing and soon, advertising focus was not on the product being an alternative to Thanksgiving stuffing, but a way to have stuffing any time of year and with other main courses as the delicious side dish that it is.
I maintain two points of view on this bit of food history. (1) It’s called stuffing when you actually put it inside the cavity of a turkey or other poultry; otherwise, it’s called dressing. (2) There is nothing really laborious about making scratch dressing and baking it in a casserole. And while Stove Top Stuffing isn’t a bad product, scratch-made in general and this recipe in particular will be infinitely better.
This recipe was originally a part of the Kitchen Tapestry recipe for Turkey & Dressing for Thanksgiving, but I have given it its own rightful place as a side dish worthy of its own space.
Corn Bread Sage Dressing
Ingredients
- 8 oz each corn bread dressing and white bread dressing (like, Pepperidge Farms)
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
- 1 cup celery, finely diced
- 8 oz fresh button mushrooms, sliced
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 4 tbsp rubbed sage
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1-1/2 stick unsalted butter
- 3-4 cups chicken stock (like Swanson's or Kitchen Basics)
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 10-12 grinds freshly cracked black pepper
- non-stick cooking spray (like, Pam)
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350°F.
- Heat the olive oil in a skillet, and sauté the celery and onion until they have collapsed and are translucent. Do not caramelize.
- Add one stick of butter and allow it to melt, then add your mushrooms. Sauté until the mushrooms have collapsed and are starting to turn brown.
- In the meantime, put the cornbread and white bread crumbs in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the celery-onion-mushroom mixture to the bread crumbs and stir to combine. Add the rubbed sage, salt and pepper, beaten eggs, and stir to combine.
- Pouring the chicken stock a cup at a time, continue stirring the mixture until it all begins to clump together. You want your dressing very moist, but not runny. It will dry out some in the oven during cooking, so you want the dressing a little more moist than dry.
- Use a casserole dish that has a lid and coat it with the non-stick cooking spray. Press the mixture down into the casserole dish so that it is level, fairly dense and has an even consistency.
- Dot the top of the dressing with the remaining 1/2 stick of butter. Cover and place into the oven for 1 hour.
Notes
- As a variation, add 1/2 lb of cooked, crumbled sausage to the mixture for some added protein and savoriness.
