Test Driving the Stuffing

One iron-clad rule of a chef: never, ever try a brand new recipe on guests.

This year I'm hosting Thanksgiving.  Turkey!  Stuffing!  Potatoes!  Pie!  I'm well experienced at everything, so I'm not stressing, but I shy away from using store-bought stuffing.  I don't make stuffing often at home because the boys don't really like it much.  However, if I wanted to make it from scratch, I'd have to try a small batch in the safety of a small group first.

Stuffing isn't really hard, despite what the people at Stove Top will have you think.  Yesterday I rounded up all the old bread in the house and cubed it into a bowl to sit overnight.  (My childhood memories of the Thanksgiving season are of my mother lining the kitchen countertops with bread to go stale.)  Today I thawed out a roasting chicken, read some stuffing recipes, and put one together.  It came out deliciously, and I'm going to use it.  Here it is:

Steven's Thanksgiving Stuffing

one medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
8 cups cubed bread
1 cup butter (yeah, baby!)
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3/4 tsp sage
3 medium apples, peeled, cored, and chopped fine

Melt the butter in a Dutch oven on the stove.  Saute the onions and garlic until tender.  Remove from heat.  Add rest of ingredients.  Toss together, then mix with your hands.  Fill bird cavity with what will fit, leaving remainder on stove.  Once bird is finished, remove stuffing and mix with the leftover, including juices from the bird to taste.

(Most of the recipes I found called for celery, but I don't like celery, so I didn't use it.)

It was wonderful!