Make Ahead Stuffing Food

DO-AHEAD STUFFING

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a large deep skillet over medium heat. Add celery and onion; cook and stir until tender, about 10 minutes. Blend in the bread crumbs, salt, poultry seasoning, pepper, thyme and sage. Stir in enough chicken broth to moisten. Spoon into large resealable bags and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
• To bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place the stuffing into greased casserole dishes.
• Bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven. If stuffing a bird, cook according to the recipe for your bird and place any extra stuffing into a casserole dish to bake.

MAKE-AHEAD SAUSAGE STUFFING

Steps:

• Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook, breaking it up into bite-sized pieces, until it is browned and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer the sausage with a slotted spoon to a large bowl.
• Melt 5 tablespoons of the remaining butter in the skillet. Add the onions, celery, sage, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt and several grinds of pepper, and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions and celery are soft and lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add the mixture to the bowl with the sausage; add the bread cubes, and toss to coat.
• Let the bread-sausage mixture cool to room temperature. Transfer it to a resealable plastic bag, label and date, and freeze for up to 2 weeks.
• To serve, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Heat the stock and 4 tablespoons of the remaining butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat until the butter melts. Whisk the eggs and parsley together in a large bowl. Break the frozen stuffing with your hands into smaller chunks, add to the bowl and toss. Add the stock-butter mixture, and toss to combine. Transfer to the prepared baking dish, and dot with the 2 remaining tablespoons butter. Cover tightly with foil, and bake until the stuffing is hot, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Uncover and continue to bake until golden brown on top, about 20 minutes more. Serve warm.

MAKE AHEAD STUFFING

Steps:

• Coat a 9" by 13" baking dish with butter. In a large skillet over medium high heat, melt butter until foaming. Add onion and celery and sauté until translucent, about 7 to 8 minutes.
• Meanwhile, whisk eggs in large bowl. Stir in broth, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
• To skillet, add parsley, sage, thyme, and marjoram and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Transfer to bowl with eggs and mix well.
• Add bread cubes and toss to combine. Transfer to buttered baking dish and cover with foil. Refrigerate until ready to bake, or freeze if you're planning to bake it farther in advance than the next day.
• When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Keep stuffing tightly covered with foil and bake until mostly heated through, about 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake until crispy edges form, about 10 to 20 minutes longer.

EASY SAUSAGE STUFFING (MAKE AHEAD)

Steps:

• Prepare a small dice of celery and onion, and saute with butter until soft.
• Remove from pan and reserve. Add crumbled sausage to pan and cook through.
• Drain sausage on paper towels and combine with celery mixture. This can now be refrigerated until you are ready to stuff the turkey.
• When you are ready to stuff the turkey combine celery mixture, sausage, stuffing mix and sage in a large bowl.
• Add chicken broth a little at a time just until stuffing is moist, not mushy or runny.
• Rinse turkey and empty the cavity. Place turkey in roasting pan.
• Fill the body cavity with stuffing mixture. Also fill the cavity at the neck under the skin with stuffing. Pat any additional stuffing between the turkey legs. Prepare turkey as desired.
• To cook in a casserole dish instead of stuffing the turkey, place stuffing mixture in a greased casserole dish and bake according to package directions. If stuffing is drying out dot with butter and add small amounts of broth to moisten.

BASIC STUFFING

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Melt 1 stick butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add 2 cups each diced onions and celery, 2 chopped apples and 1 tablespoon each minced sage and thyme; season with salt and pepper and cook 5 minutes. Add 3 cups chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Whisk 2 eggs with 1/4 cup chopped parsley in a large bowl; add 16 cups cubed stale country white bread, then pour in the vegetable-broth mixture and toss. Transfer to a buttered 3-quart baking dish and dot with more butter. Cover and bake 30 minutes, then uncover and bake until golden, 20 more minutes.

SEAFOOD STUFFING (AND MAKE-AHEAD STUFFED MUSHROOMS)

Steps:

• In a large bowl, finely crush the crackers and mix in the parsley flakes.
• Set aside.
• Heat the 1 tbs.
• olive oil and 3 tbs.
• butter on a medium to high heat, watching carefully.
• When hot and just starting to bubble, add the celery and carrots.
• Cook, stirring occasionally, for one minute.
• Add the onions and green peppers (and mushrooms if using-- see directions for make-ahead mushrooms below) and cook for another minute.
• Add the garlic and cook for another 1/2 minute to a minute until vegetables are tender.
• Remove from heat and pour entire vegetable and butter mixture into crushed crackers.
• Add the chopped seafood, old bay seasoning, netmeg, sherry, worcestershire sauce, clam juice, and pepper to taste.
• Mix well so the seasonings are evenly distributed.
• Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.
• I find the salt in the crackes and other ingredients is enough, but if you prefer you can add some additional salt at this time.
• Makes about 2 to 2 1/2 cups stuffing.
• To prepare Make-Ahead Stuffed Mushrooms: Preheat oven to 425.
• Remove stems from mushrooms and wash the mushrooms.
• (Save stems for another use, or you can chop them finely and add to the stuffing if desired by adding them along with the onions and green pepper to the butter. If doing so, add another 1/2 tbs. butter. However, I think this stuffing is better without them).
• Toss mushrooms with 1 1/2 tsp.
• olive oil and salt and place them in a shallow baking pan in one layer.
• Bake for 8-10 minutes (depending on size of mushrooms) and remove from oven to cool.
• Stuff the mushrooms evenly with the stuffing.
• Place in a shallow baking dish and sprinkle evenly with paprika.
• At this point you can refrigerate the mushrooms for up to 2 days, or freeze them for up to a month; thaw at least partially before cooking.
• When ready to serve, melt the remaining 2 tbs.
• of butter.
• Drizzle evenly over the mushrooms.
• If the mushrooms are room temperature, just broil them until the tops are crispy and they are heated through.
• If they are refrigerated or partially frozen, bake at 350 until heated through, then just run under the broiler for a few seconds to crisp the top, if necessary.
• Serve garnished with lemon wedges.