Craisin 'Turkey' Stuffing
Here’s what happens when you have family members that are cranberry farmers…you find lots of ways to use cranberries, in all their various forms, including dried sweetened cranberries, also known as craisins. The fun thing about this recipe is that it’s a combination of both how my mother and my mother-in-law made ‘turkey’ stuffing. Okay, and the reason I put ‘turkey’ in quotes is because as the years passed, my family voted the ‘turkey off of our winter holiday dinner table…but kept my stuffing :). And the great thing about this stuffing is that it doesn’t have to ‘bake off’ inside a turkey. In fact, I prefer it baked off in a covered ovenproof dish :)!!
Craisin ‘Turkey’ Stuffing Recipe
Special Note: This recipe can be easily cut in half. The recipe below is for two loaves of bread and easily feeds 6 - 8 people as a side dish.
Ingredients:
2 loaves sliced white (or brown) bread
2 large sweet yellow onions
4 stalks of celery
3c of ‘original’ sweetened craisins
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp oregano
1/4c olive oil
3/4c butter (split between 1/2c and 1/4c)
Instructions:
The day before making, pull the bread out of its baggies and place in a large bowel to let it dry out a little. (If it’s too fresh and soft, it can make the final stuffing mushy…)
The day of: Chop up the celery and onion to about the same size pieces as the craisins.
Place the chopped celery and onion in a pan with the olive oil, turn heat on medium and saute until the veges start to become translucent.
Add the salt, pepper and oregano. Saute for a couple more minutes.
Add the craisins and continue to saute. Once nearing the stage where these ingredients want to begin to brown, add 1/2c of the butter. (Note: The butter is for flavouring :))
While all of the above is sauteing…chop the bread into desired size (we prefer our stuffing bread cubes on the smaller side…).
Add the saute’ed veges to the cut up bread. Melt remaining 1/4c of butter and combine all.
Taste for seasoning…add more salt and pepper if desired.
Transfer to oven proof bowels and pack tightly.
Cover and bake for about 3/4 hour in a 325 - 350 degree oven…or until heated through. The baking allows all the flavours to meld together.
Note: The magic of a great gravy is that it can help to mask a less than perfectly flavoured stuffing…lol!!
