Apple Bacon And Leek Stuffing Food

APPLE, BACON, & LEEK STUFFING RECIPE - (4.5/5)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 3-quart rectangular baking dish with cooking spray; set aside. In an extra-large skillet cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Drain on paper towels; crumble bacon. Drain fat, reserving 3 tablespoons drippings in skillet. Add butter to drippings in skillet. Add mushrooms, leeks, and celery. Cook over medium heat for 7 to 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Add apples and garlic. Cook and stir for 2 to 4 minutes or until apples are just softened. Stir in cream. In an extra-large bowl combine apple mixture, crumbled bacon, bread cubes, the 1 tablespoon sage, the thyme, and pepper. Drizzle with broth to moisten, tossing gently to combine. Spoon mixture into prepared baking dish. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until heated through and top is light brown. If desired, garnish with sage leaves. *Tip: To make dry bread cubes, preheat oven to 300°F. Cut 18 to 21 fresh bread slices into 1/2-inch cubes to yield 12 cups bread cubes. Spread cubes in two 15x10x1-inch baking pans. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until cubes are dry, stirring twice; cool. (Cubes will continue to dry and crisp as they cool.) Or let bread cubes stand, loosely covered, at room temperature for 8 to 12 hours. Make-Ahead Directions: Prepare stuffing as directed through Step 2, except do not preheat oven. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. To serve, preheat oven to 375°F. Remove plastic wrap; cover baking dish with foil. Bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake about 15 minutes more or until an instant-read thermometer registers 165°F.

HERB AND APPLE STUFFING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
• Put the bread cubes on a 13 by 18 by 1-inch baking sheet and bake them in the oven for 7 minutes.
• In a large saute pan, melt the butter and add the onion, celery, apples, parsley, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Saute for 10 minutes, until the mixture is soft.
• Combine the bread cubes and cooked vegetables in a large bowl and add the chicken stock, and almonds, if desired.
• Place the stuffing into the main cavity of the turkey and into the neck of the bird. I cook a 12-pound turkey for 2 1/2 hours at 350 degrees F in a preheated oven. Make sure the stuffing in the cavity is secured by wrapping the legs tightly with string.

BACON APPLE STUFFING

Steps:

• Adjust oven rack to the center position and heat the oven to 350˚F.
• Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp and brown, about 10-12 minutes.
• Transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate.
• Add the celery, onion, and apple to the same skillet the bacon was cooking in (don't drain off the bacon grease) and sauté, stirring occasionally, until softened about 8-10 minutes.
• Add the parsley, thyme, sage, and marjoram and stir. Cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl.
• Add the breadcrumbs, egg, salt, pepper, chicken broth and bacon to the vegetable and apple mixture.
• Place the stuffing mixture into a buttered 9x13 pan, or any other 3-quart pan. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 165˚F.
• Cool for 5 minutes, then serve.

BUTTERED STUFFING WITH CELERY AND LEEKS

Steps:

• Using your hands, tear bread, crust and all, into 1 1/2- to 2-inch pieces. (Alternatively, you can cut the bread with a knife, but I prefer the way the craggy bits toast and soak up the goods.) Place chunks on a rimmed baking sheet, and let sit uncovered at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours. If you're short on time, you can toast the chunks in a 300-degree oven instead, tossing occasionally, until lightly crisped, but not browned, on the outside.
• Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, combine olive oil and 4 tablespoons butter. Once butter has melted, add the garlic and leeks. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until leeks are bright green and totally softened, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Add celery, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally until bright green and tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Add white wine, and cook until reduced by about three-quarters, 3 to 4 minutes. Add red-pepper flakes, if using, and remove from heat.
• Whisk together broth and eggs in a medium bowl. Place bread in a large bowl (you want a lot of room for mixing, so go big), and add the leek and celery mixture, parsley, chives and marjoram. Stir to coat so that everything is evenly distributed, trying not to totally crush the bread. Pour the egg mixture over everything and toss a few times. Let sit a minute or two and give another toss. Repeat twice until all the liquid has absorbed and evenly distributed to each and every piece of bread.
• Transfer mixture to a 2 1/2- to 3-quart baking dish (a 9-by-13 pan also works), making sure not to pack it too tightly. (You want to keep the bread in the stuffing as light as possible.) Dot the top with the remaining 4 tablespoons butter, making sure to pay extra attention to the corners, where the stuffing will get the crispiest.
• Cover with foil and bake until the stuffing is sizzling at the edges and completely cooked through, 25 to 30 minutes. If it's not yet time to serve, remove stuffing from oven and set aside. (If you are nearly ready to serve, proceed directly to the next step and continue without pausing.)
• When ready to serve, remove foil and increase temperature to 425 degrees. Bake stuffing until crispy, crunchy and impossibly golden brown on top, 20 to 25 minutes. Scatter with celery leaves, if using, and serve.

SOURDOUGH STUFFING WITH APPLES AND BACON

Steps:

• 1. Spread bread cubes out on a rimmed baking sheet (or two, if necessary) and toast in a 350 degree oven until dried out and slightly crisp (10-15 minutes). Set aside. 2. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until very soft but not browned, about 7 minutes. Add apples and leeks and cook for a few minutes longer until apples are crisp tender. Add sage, thyme, and poultry seasoning, stir and cook for half a minute longer, then remove from heat. 3. Transfer onion/apple mixture to a very large bowl, add chopped bacon and bread cubes, and toss well. Add two cups of chicken stock, toss well, then add more stock, a little at a time until the stuffing is well-moistened, but not soggy. Taste, and add a bit of salt if desired. 4. Pour stuffing into greased casserole dishes (mine fit into one 9×12-inch dish, but you can divide it if necessary). Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Yield: 10-12 servings Recipe Notes: *the leeks are optional. I used one in my first batch of stuffing because it was sitting in my fridge and needed to be used up. I think the leeks add a great flavor, but they certainly aren't necessary. **I like granny smith apples because they are tart, and hold their shape when cooked. But feel free to use any apple that is good for baking. ***I ended up using just over 3 cups of chicken broth, but you may need a lot more depending on the moisture in the bread and your taste preference. If you like a very moist stuffing, you might use even more than four cups of stock. Like all stuffing recipes, this one is more of an outline than an actual recipe. Feel free to adjust ingredients to your own taste. For more color, think about stirring in 1/4-1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley. For an interesting twist, you might even try throwing in some dried cranberries!

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.

APPLE STUFFING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss bread with 3 tablespoons melted butter; season with salt and pepper. Spread on a rimmed baking sheet; toast, rotating halfway through, until browned, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Heat remaining tablespoon butter in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add leeks; cook, stirring frequently, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add apples; cook, turning occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes.
• In a large bowl, combine bread, leek mixture, rosemary, and broth; season with salt and pepper. Add egg; stir until thoroughly combined. Transfer to a buttered 1 1/2-quart shallow baking dish.
• Bake until golden on top and crisp around edges, 40 to 45 minutes.

STUFFING WITH BACON AND APPLES

Steps:

• Cook bacon in large skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp and browned, about 12 minutes.
• Remove bacon from pan with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
• Discard all but 3 tablespoons of rendered bacon fat.
• Increase heat to medium-high and add onions and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.
• Cook onions until golden in color, making sure to stir occasionally and scrape sides and bottom of pan, about 20 minutes.
• Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook, stirring more often to prevent burning, until onions are deep golden brown, another 5 minutes.
• Add apples and continue to cook another 5 minutes.
• Transfer contents of pan to large bowl.
• Add remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt, pepper, parsley, and sage to bowl and mix to combine.
• Add bread cubes and bacon.
• Whisk stock and eggs together in small bowl.
• Pour mixture over bread cubes.
• Gently toss to evenly distribute ingredients.
• bake at 325 for 20-30 minutes until golden brown.