Fancy Mushroom Stuffing Recipes

HAZELNUT, SAGE, AND MUSHROOM STUFFING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F with racks in upper and lower thirds. Generously butter baking dish.
• Arrange bread in 1 layer in 2 large shallow baking pans and toast, switching position of pans halfway through baking, until golden and dry, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl. (Leave oven on.)
• Meanwhile, cook shallots in 1 stick butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden, about 6 minutes. Add mushrooms, celery, thyme, sage, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid given off by mushrooms has evaporated and mushrooms are browned, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Add wine and deglaze skillet by boiling, stirring and scraping up any brown bits, until wine is reduced by about half, about 2 minutes. Transfer to bread in bowl. Add hazelnuts and parsley and toss.
• Whisk together stock, eggs, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, then stir into bread mixture. Transfer to baking dish and dot top of stuffing with remaining 1/2 stick butter.
• Bake, loosely covered with a buttered sheet of foil (buttered side down), in lower third of oven 30 minutes, then remove foil and bake until top is browned, about 15 minutes more.

STUFFING WITH MUSHROOMS, LEEKS AND BACON

Steps:

• Heat oven to 250 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Trim the crusts from the white bread and cut into 1-inch cubes; if using corn bread, coarsely crumble it. Spread the bread pieces out on one or two large baking sheets. Toast in the oven, tossing occasionally, until very dry, about 30 minutes for white bread, 1 hour for corn bread. Transfer to a large bowl to cool. Increase oven temperature to 375 degrees.
• In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the bacon strips until crisp. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain, leaving the fat in the pan. Add the leeks to the bacon fat and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Cook, tossing frequently, until mushrooms are tender and most of their juices have evaporated, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the sage and cook 1 minute. Add the wine and cook until it evaporates, about 2 minutes.
• Spoon the mushroom mixture over the dried bread. Stir in stock. If using white bread, stir in the cider. Add parsley, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. The mixture should be moist and very soft. If you like your stuffing extremely moist, add enough stock to make it seem slightly soggy but not wet. (Think pudding.) Crumble bacon and stir it in.
• Transfer the bread mixture to the prepared baking pan. Drizzle 3 tablespoons melted butter over the stuffing. Bake until golden, 35 to 45 minutes.

FANCY MUSHROOM STUFFING

Steps:

• Using a sharp knife, mince the chanterelles and the shiitakes (a food processor will mince the mushrooms too fine). In step 1 of the recipe for basic bread stuffing, add the minced mushrooms to the skillet with the minced onion. Cook over low heat for 15 minutes, rather than 5 minutes. Add all remaining ingredients except bread cubes and broth and stir well. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, add the bread cubes and broth and toss to combine well. If baking in a casserole, it will not be necessary to add more chicken broth.

MUSHROOM STUFFING

Steps:

• Butter one 9x13 inch casserole dish. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Rinse, pat dry and quarter mushrooms. In large skillet heat butter and add mushrooms, onion and celery; saute 5 minutes and remove from heat. Stir in poultry seasoning, salt and pepper.
• In large mixing bowl, combine bread crumbs with broth and eggs, add mushroom mixture, apples and parsley; mix well. Turn into casserole dish.
• Cover and bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for about 45 minutes. Remove cover and bake 15 minutes longer to brown top.