Another very important part of Thanksgiving day… Stuffing. For years I have subscribed to the ultimate food lovers guide (food porn) magazine… Bon Appetit. Nothing compares to opening my mail box and finding it waiting with wonderful recipes, restaurants and ideas. But I am guilty… after drooling over every amazing (and complicated) recipe, I revert back to my collection of familiar cook books and my unused Bon Appetit stack grows. So I’ve vowed not to be intimidated by the long lists of ingredients or seemingly complicated recipes and try to cook at least ONE (I know its not a lot but its better than NONE) recipe each month. So in honor of my commitment… this stuffing recipe is from the November Bon Appetit Thankgiving Issue, it turned out not to be as complicated as I though and its absolutely delicious! This can be made 1 day ahead too, which makes it even better. Enjoy!

Cornbread, Sausage and Pecan ‘Dressing’

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter plus more for baking dish
• 1 lb. day-old cornbread, Broken into 1 1/2″-2″ Pieces (two boxes of Jiffy Mix)
• 1 lb. breakfast sausage links, casings removed (I used maple sausage)
• 2 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion
• 1 1/2 cups slices celery
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth, divided
• 1 1/4 cups chopped toasted pecans (optional)
• 1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh sage
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh thyme
• 2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 large eggs
• (I added 2 leeks because I love them! roots and green stems removed, white part cut into thin rounds)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Arrange racks in upper and lower thirds of oven. Butter a 13x9x2″ baking dish; set aside. Scatter cornbread in a single layer on 2 rimmed baking sheets. Bake until dried out, about 1 hour, stirring often. Transfer to very large mixing bowl.

Meanwhile, cook sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat, breaking up into 1″ pieces with a wooden spoon until browned, about 8-10 minutes. Drain fat and transfer to bowl with cornbread but do not stir.

Heat 3/4 cup butter in same skillet; add onions and celery (and leeks if you choose to add them) and saute for 10 minutes or until soft and they begin to brown. Add to bowl with cornbread.

Return skillet to heat. Add vinegar and cook for 1 minute scraping up browned bits from the pan. Add to cornbread mixture. Gently fold in 1 1/2 cups broth, pecans, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. Let cool.

Turn oven up to 350 degrees. In a small bowl whisk 1 1/2 cups broth and eggs together. Fold gently into cornbread until thoroughly combined taking care not to mash cornbread (mixture will look wet). Transfer to buttered baking dish, cover with foil, and bake about 40 minutes or when a thermometer inserted into the center of the stuffing reads 160 degrees. If making a day ahead, remove foil after baking and let cool. Cover and chill. Reheat for 15-20 minutes or until stuffing is warm all the way through.

Turns out stuffing is really difficult to photograph and still look appealing (Even though the magazines picture is perfect, go figure). While this looks like a bowl of mush…It tasted AMAZING and looks much prettier in person.