Oven Baked Fennel Sausage Stuffing For A Crowd Recipes

EASY SAUSAGE & HERB STUFFING

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with butter.
• Place the stuffing cubes in a large mixing bowl.
• In a large sauté pan, melt the butter. Add the onions and celery and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 8 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft. Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes more. Add the vegetables to the stuffing cubes. (Don't wash the pan but scrape out every last bit of vegetables, otherwise they will burn in the next step.)
• In the same pan, cook the sausage over medium heat for 8-10 minutes, until browned and cooked through, breaking up the sausage with a metal spatula while cooking (the largest pieces should be no greater than ¼-inch). Add the browned sausage and fat to the bread cubes and vegetables.
• Add the chicken broth, egg, rosemary, sage, parsley, salt and pepper to the bread cube mixture and mix until the bread is soft and moistened. Transfer the stuffing to the prepared baking dish and bake for 65-75 minutes, uncovered, until deeply golden and crisp on top.
• Note: If you can't find bulk sausage, simply buy regular sausage and remove the casings.
• Make-Ahead/Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The stuffing can be assembled up to a day ahead and refrigerated until ready to bake; follow the baking instructions in the recipe. It can also can be frozen after baking, tightly covered, for up to 3 months. When you're ready to serve it, defrost in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Reheat it, covered with foil, in a 325°F oven until hot.

SAUSAGE FENNEL STUFFING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°F.
• Spread bread crumbs in 2 shallow baking pans and bake in upper and lower thirds of oven until golden and dry, about 15 minutes. Cool crumbs in pans on racks, then transfer to a large bowl.
• Cook sausage in a dry 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderate heat, stirring and breaking up pieces with a fork, until browned and cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to bowl with bread crumbs with a slotted spoon.
• Melt 6 tablespoons butter in skillet over moderate heat, then add onions, fennel bulb, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are softened, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Finely grind fennel seeds in coffee/spice grinder, then add to vegetables in skillet along with thyme and tarragon and cook, stirring, 1 minute.
• Transfer vegetables to bowl with bread crumbs and sausage and toss gently but thoroughly. Spoon stuffing into a buttered 3- to 3 1/2-quart shallow baking dish. Drizzle with stock and dot with remaining 2 tablespoons butter, cut into bits. Bake, covered, in middle of oven 30 minutes, then uncover and bake until browned, about 30 minutes more.

FENNEL-SAUSAGE STUFFING

Steps:

• In a large deep skillet, saute 1/2 pound crumbled sweet Italian sausage in 6 tablespoons butter for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add 1 diced fennel bulb, 1 diced onion, and 1 tablespoon each chopped sage and thyme; cook 5 minutes, then add 1 diced peeled apple and cook 2 minutes. Pour in 2 1/2 to 3 cups chicken broth. In a large bowl, mix 2 eggs and 1/4 cup chopped parsley. Add to the bowl 16 cups toasted white bread cubes and the hot broth mixture. Gently toss the stuffing, then spread in a buttered 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Dot the top with butter or turkey pan drippings, cover and bake 30 minutes at 350. Uncover and bake until golden, 20 more minutes.

CLASSIC SAUSAGE STUFFING

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350˚. Butter a 3-quart baking dish. Melt 6 tablespoons butter in a large wide pot over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook, breaking up the meat, until no longer pink, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the onions, celery, sage and thyme and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth, 1 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper. Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat.
• Whisk the eggs and parsley in a large bowl. Add the bread cubes and sausage-broth mixture and toss until evenly combined. Transfer to the prepared baking dish, dot with the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and cover with foil.
• Bake the stuffing until hot, about 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until golden brown, 20 to 30 minutes. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

OVEN-BAKED FENNEL SAUSAGE STUFFING FOR A CROWD

Steps:

• Dry your bread ahead of time by cutting it into 1/2 inch slices (if it isn't already sliced) and laying them on a single layer on baking sheets or cooling racks, and leaving them out overnight. The next day, cut the slices into 1/2 inch cubes and allow them to dry for another night. If you are in a hurry or they don't dry enough from just laying them out, dry the slices in a 225-degree oven until brittle but not brown, 30 - 40 minutes. Then cut them into cubes and proceed. You want to end up with nice 1/2 inch cubes that are not quite as dry as croutons but close to that.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare two 9x13 pans with butter or cooking spray. Prepare the wild rice mix as directed on the package.
• Brown the sausage in a large pan. Remove the cooked sausage with a slotted spoon and set aside. Keep the rendered fat in the pan.
• Add 8 tablespoons butter to the pan and melt. Add the onion, celery and fennel and saute over medium-high heat and saute until translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir in all of the spices and saute for an additional 2-3 minutes until nice and fragrant. Remove from heat and the sausage back inches.
• Mix the onion mixture with the dried bread in a very large bowl (I use a large stock pot). Add in the parsley, broth and eggs and mix everything together gently but well.
• Divide the mixture into the two prepared pans. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and drizzle over the top of the stuffing. Cover the pans tightly with greased aluminum foil. You can refrigerate the stuffing at this point if you want to prepare it earlier in the day.
• Bake in the oven covered for 25 minutes, until fragrant (30-35 minutes if refrigerated). Remove foil and bake until golden brown crust forms on top, 15 to 20 minutes longer. Serve warm.

SAUSAGE FENNEL STUFFING

Steps:

• In a 10- to 12-inch heavy skillet cook sausage over moderately high heat, stirring and breaking up lumps with a fork, until no longer pink. Transfer sausage with a slotted spoon to a large bowl.
• Add butter to fat remaining in skillet and cook onions, chopped fennel, fennel seeds, and salt to taste over moderate heat, stirring, until fennel is softened, about 10 minutes. Add apéritif, thyme, and tarragon and cook, stirring, until most liquid is evaporated. Add mixture to sausage with corn bread or packaged stuffing and toss to combine well. Season stuffing with salt and pepper and cool completely. Stuffing may be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered. (To prevent bacterial growth do not stuff turkey cavities ahead.)

BEST SAUSAGE STUFFING

Steps:

• Place sausage in a large, deep skillet; cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown, about 10 minutes. Remove sausage from the skillet and let drain on paper towels. Combine melted margarine with the sausage drippings until there is 1 cup of drippings and margarine combined.
• Cook and stir onion and celery in the margarine-dripping mixture in the same skillet over medium heat until onion is tender but not browned, about 10 minutes . Stir in about 1/3 of the bread cubes. Pour onion mixture into a large bowl and stir in remaining bread cubes, sausage, poultry seasoning, and pepper. Watch your hands, it's hot. Mix well. This stuffing is ready for baking.

SPINACH, FENNEL, AND SAUSAGE STUFFING WITH TOASTED BRIOCHE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Scatter bread on a rimmed baking sheet. Toast until golden brown, tossing once, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely. DO AHEAD: Bread can be toasted 1 day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.
• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add sausage and cook, breaking up into small pieces with the back of a spoon, until browned and cooked through, 8-10 minutes. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate; let cool. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in the same skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion and fennel and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 10-12 minutes.DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Let cool; cover and chill.
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 3-quart shallow baking dish. Whisk eggs to blend in a large bowl; whisk in broth. Stir in sausage, the onion-fennel mixture, spinach, salt, pepper, and fennel seeds. Add bread; toss until evenly distributed and bread has absorbed the liquid. Transfer to prepared dish; dot with remaining 2 tablespoons butter.
• Bake until stuffing is hot and the top is golden brown, about 40 minutes.

SAUSAGE, DATE, AND FENNEL STUFFING

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375°F Combine the chopped dates and the wine; leave to soak while everything else is prepared. Spread the bread cubes on a baking sheet and toast for 5-8 minutes to dry them out.
• In the skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering; cook the sausage for 5 minutes.
• Add the diced carrot, celery, onion and sliced fennel to the sausage and sauté until softened, 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool before adding the rest of the ingredients, 10 minutes.
• Stir the diced preserved lemon, fennel fronds, parsley and soaked chopped dates into the sausage and vegetable mixture. Make sure to add any liquid left in with the chopped dates.
• In a large bowl, combine the sausage mixture with the toasted bread cubes and toss well to coat.
• Lightly beat the eggs with the salt and the water before adding to the bread cubes and sausage mixture. If the bread and sausage mixture appears too dry, add a bit more water, up to 1/2 cup.
• Lightly oil a casserole dish and spoon in the bread cube and sausage mixture. Mound it firmly in the dish and drizzle with olive oil, bake for 30-40 minutes until the crust is light brown and crispy.