Wild Mushroom Stuffing With Torn Rustic Bread Celery Leeks And Fresh Herbs Print Food

LEEK AND WILD MUSHROOM STUFFING

Steps:

• Combine 1 1/2 cups hot water and dried porcini in small bowl. Let stand until mushrooms soften, about 30 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer mushrooms to work surface; chop finely. Pour mushroom soaking liquid into small bowl, leaving any sediment behind, and reserve.
• Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add shiitake and button mushrooms; sauté 10 minutes. Add leeks and garlic; sauté 5 minutes. Add wine, thyme, and porcini mushrooms. Cook until almost all wine evaporates, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover mushroom mixture and porcini soaking liquid separately and chill. Reheat mushroom mixture to lukewarm before continuing.) Transfer mixture to very large bowl.
• Mix bread into mushroom mixture. Season with salt and pepper; mix in egg.
• To bake stuffing in turkey:
• Loosely fill main cavity and neck cavity of turkey with stuffing. Add enough mushroom soaking liquid to remaining stuffing to moisten slightly (1/4 cup to 3/4 cup, depending on amount of remaining stuffing). Generously butter baking dish. Spoon remaining stuffing into prepared dish. Cover dish with buttered foil, buttered side down. Bake stuffing in dish - alongside turkey or while turkey is resting - until heated through, about 25 minutes. Uncover stuffing in dish. Bake until top of stuffing is slightly crisp and golden, about 15 minutes longer.
• To bake stuffing in dish:
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Add enough reserved mushroom soaking liquid to stuffing to moisten (3/4 cup to 1 1/4 cups). Transfer stuffing to prepared dish. Bake uncovered until heated through, about 40 minutes.
• Dried porcini mushrooms are available at Italian markets, specialty foods stores, and many supermarkets.

WILD MUSHROOM STUFFING WITH TORN RUSTIC BREAD, CELERY, LEEKS, AND FRESH HERBS PRINT

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350. Place torn bread on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes until bread has dried out. Set aside. Heat 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Sauté leeks and celery and a generous pinch of salt for 6 minutes. Add mushrooms, thyme sprigs, and sage leaves to the pan, salt generously, turn up heat to medium-high and cook for 15-20 minutes until mushrooms are tender and liquid has evaporated. Once mushrooms are cooked through season again to taste. Use a tablespoon of butter to generously butter a 9×11 baking dish and butter a piece of tinfoil that will fit over the top of the dish. Transfer toasted bread and cooked vegetables to a large mixing bowl- toss to combine. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together eggs and parmesan. Pour mixture over the stuffing. Add parsley leaves and chicken stock. Use a large wood spoon to stir everything together. Generously season with salt and black pepper to taste. Cut up 2 tablespoons of butter into chunks and scatter them over the top of the stuffing. Cover baking dish with the buttered piece of tinfoil. Bake covered for 25 minutes until warmed through. Remove foil and turn oven up to 425. Bake another 20 minutes until stuffing is a deep golden brown.

WILD MUSHROOM, LEEK, AND FILBERT DRESSING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush a 2 1/2-quart baking dish with butter.
• Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add onion, leek, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 7 to 8 minutes. Stir in thyme, and transfer to a plate.
• Return pan to stove, raise heat to medium-high, and melt 2 tablespoons butter. Saute half the mushrooms with 1/2 teaspoon salt, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to plate with onion and leeks. Saute remaining mushrooms in same manner, and transfer to plate.
• Return pan to stove over medium-high heat. Add wine, bring to a boil, and cook until reduced by half. Add broth, and bring to a simmer.
• Place bread in a large bowl. Pour broth mixture over bread, and toss until evenly absorbed. Gently stir in mushrooms, onion and leeks, nuts, and eggs; season with pepper. Stuffing can be made up to this point (do not add eggs) 1 day ahead and refrigerated. Let come to room temperature before stirring in eggs and baking.
• Transfer dressing to baking dish. Cover, and bake 30 minutes. Uncover dish, dot with remaining 2 tablespoons butter, and bake until top is golden brown and crisp, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool 30 minutes before serving.

WILD MUSHROOM STUFFING

Steps:

• Combine the 2 cups hot water and the porcini mushrooms, let stand until the mushrooms are soft. About 30 minutes. Drain, reserving soaking liquid. Squeeze porcini dry and chop coarsely.
• Preheat oven to 325*. Divide cubed bread between two baking sheets. Bake until beginning to brown. About 15 minutes. Cool then transfer to a very large bowl.
• Melt the butter in a heavy Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the leeks, shallots, crimini or button and shiitake mushrooms. Saute until golden and tender, about 15 minutes. Mix in the celery and porcini mushrooms and saute for another 5 minutes. Transfer mixture to the bowl with the bread crumbs. Mix in the parsley, hazelnuts, thyme and sage. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the beaten eggs.
• To bake the stuffing in a turkey: Fill the main cavity with the stuffing. Combine the broth and 1/2 cup of the reserved porcini soaking liquid in stuffing to moisten. Spoon remaining stuffing into a buttered baking dish. Cover with buttered foil. Bake stuffing in dish alongside turkey until heated through, about 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until top is crisp, about 15 minutes.
• To bake all stuffing in pan: Preheat oven to 325*. Butter 15x10x2-inch baking dish. Mix 3/4 cup reserved porcini soaking liquid and 3/4 cup broth into stuffing. Transfer stuffing to prepared dish. Cover with buttered foil and bake until heated through, about 1 hour. Uncover and bake unil top is crisp, about 15 minutes.

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.

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.