Buttered Stuffing With Celery And Leeks Food

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.

CELERY STUFFING

Steps:

• Melt butter in saucepan. Saute onion in melted butter until soft, but not brown. Add celery and stir well. Add 2 cups chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Place bread cubes into large mixing bowl. Add eggs, salt, pepper, sage, thyme, and marjoram. Add onion-celery mixture; combine thoroughly. If still too dry, add more chicken broth. Makes enough to stuff a 10 to 15 pound turkey.

LEEK-CELERY ROOT STUFFING

Steps:

• Arrange bread in a single layer on a baking sheet, and let stand, uncovered, at room temperature overnight. (Alternatively, bake bread in a 300-degree oven until dry but not browned, about 15 minutes.)
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss celery root and oil in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Arrange in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet, and roast, stirring once, until celery root is tender and edges are golden brown, about 40 minutes.
• Melt 1 stick butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and leeks, and cook, stirring often, until soft, about 8 minutes. Add the celery root, sage, parsley, and 4 cups stock, stirring to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.
• Toss bread with vegetable mixture in a large bowl. Fold in walnuts. Season with salt and pepper.
• To cook stuffing in a turkey: Stuff as directed (see Roast Dry-Brined Turkey recipe); for the remaining stuffing, stir in remaining 1 cup stock, spoon into a buttered 9-by-13-inch baking dish, and dot with remaining 1/2 stick butter. Cover with parchment, then foil, and bake in a 375-degree oven for 25 minutes. Uncover, and continue to bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. To bake all of the stuffing outside a turkey: Prepare and bake as directed above in a buttered 9-by-13-inch baking dish.

TRADITIONAL BREAD AND CELERY STUFFING

Steps:

• Empty 2 cups of broth and butter into a medium pan over medium heat. Add onions and cook for about 20 minutes.
• While onions cook, tear the bread into a very large mixing bowl. You don't want large pieces of crust or heel. This part of the bread doesn't absorb as well. The regular bread parts can be torn into large pieces, about 4 pieces per slice. Don't mush the bread, tear easily. Squeeze and crush the crackers in the sleeve and empty into the mixing bowl. Empty all contents of boxed stuffing into the bowl.
• After the onion has cooked, add the celery. Cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, turn heat off, and let cool, 10 to 15 minutes.
• While your mixture is cooking, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and spray a roasting pan with nonstick spray.
• Empty one ladleful of stock at a time over the bread. After each, use a fork to softly fold/fluff the bread mixture. Don't stir or mash. Bread tearing while folding/fluffing is okay, but you don't want it mashed up or doughy. Then, add more broth to the mixture, fold/fluff, and wait about 30 seconds for absorption between adding more. The stuffing should hold together and be moist.
• Empty mixture into the sprayed roasting pan. Using your fork, softly fluff over the mixture until it covers the pan. Add little amounts of broth at a time and use the fork to pick up/fluff until you just start to see it not absorbing. Cover the pan with aluminum foil.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake until lightly browned, about 5 minutes more.

CLASSIC BREAD STUFFING WITH ONIONS, CELERY, AND HERBS

Steps:

• In a big skillet, melt the butter over medium heat; add in onions, celery, and celery leaves.
• Cook, stirring often, until the onions are golden, about 8 minutes.
• Scrape the vegetable mixture into a big bowl; mix in the bread cubes, parsley, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper.
• Gradually stir in about 1 ½ cups of broth, until the stuffing is evenly moistened but not soggy.
• Transfer stuffing to a lightly buttered casserole dish; drizzle with ½ cup broth, cover, and bake in a preheated 350° oven for 30-45 minutes (if you like crusty stuffing, remove foil the last 15 minutes of baking).

SAUSAGE, LEEK AND CURRANT STUFFING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Arrange bread cubes on 2 heavy large baking sheets. Bake until slightly dry, about 10 minutes. Cool completely.
• Heat oil in heavy large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add leeks, sausage, celery, sugar, thyme and sage. Season with salt and pepper and cook until sausage is cooked through and leeks are tender, crumbling sausage with fork and stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Transfer mixture to large bowl. Cool slightly. Add bread cubes and currants to sausage mixture and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.) Stir beaten eggs into stuffing.