Walnut-Raisin Stuffing with Sage

I have been eating dessert like a crazy person lately. First there was pumpkin cake with caramel and pumpkin pie, then there was cranberry pie, and finally my birthday chocolate peanut butter concoction. Don’t get me wrong. I loved every sweet, sugary moment of it (and I’m still enjoying the remaining sweet, sugary, chocolately, peanut buttery moments of my birthday). But I thought I would share something savory to get myself back on track after the diabetic coma.

I made stuffing a few weeks ago for an absolutely wonderful get together with my friends for Thanksgiving. I never made the “real stuff” before; usually doctoring up a box with extra celery and onions. This year, I wanted to attempt to make my own (with the help of Martha Stewart, of course).

I used to only think that stuffing was for Thanksgiving, but it is a great side dish for all of the celebrations coming up in the next few weeks. It can be incredibly versatile to satisfy any palate and you can throw in basically anything in your kitchen.

Golden-y brown and filled with so many flavors of the season.

The original recipe called for crusty white bread. While I was in the grocery store, I found a special bread just for stuffing. It came as a loaf, but just happened to already have savory “stuffing spices” baked into it. If you’d like to use something with a bit more flavor, I would totally recommend it. I think that this particular bread added a lot more flavor to the stuffing.

There is a bit of sage in the stuffing. I thought it added such great depth and flavor to the dish. Plus, it’s very winter-y.

You really can’t have stuffing without celery and onions (and a bit of garlic) right? It would just be eggy bread. Not cool.

Sauteed in butter, I could probably eat this mixture alone. Not alone by myself; although, I could probably do that too. Alone by itself… Yeah, you probably understood that before I even wasted my energy to clarify…

Walnuts, raisins, herbs and spices.

I could definitely eat this part by itself alone by myself. Does that make sense?

I just thought I’d delight you with another photo. I wish you were in my kitchen to smell this.

Eggs are added to the dried bread cubes along with the vegetable mixture. Eggs help to make that magic, golden brown and give the stuffing the lovely crust on the top. They also work to bind the whole fabulous mess together.

Broth is added to help lighten the stuffing and make it fluffy and tender.

A wonderful, and terribly simple addition to your dinner.

Carbs + Butter + Walnuts/Raisins/Sage = Love

Walnut-Raisin Stuffing with Sage (lightly adapted from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food Magazine)

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

1 loaf crusty white bread cut into 3/4-in pieces (about 8 cups)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, diced
3 large celery stalks, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
2 tablespoons fresh sage, chopped
1 teaspoon each dried rosemary and dried thyme
course salt and ground pepper
1 tablespoon dried parsley
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 cups vegetable or chicken broth

Method

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place bread cubes on lined baking sheet pans. Toast for 10-12 minutes or until crunchy and toasted. Let cool. This can be done a day in advance and kept at room temperature.
Meanwhile, butter a 9 x 13 baking dish. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery, and garlic and cook until onion and celery are softened, about 7 minutes. Add toasted walnuts, raisins, sage, rosemary, and thyme and cook for an additional minute. Move vegetable mixture to a large bowl, season with salt and pepper to taste. This can also be done a day in advance and refrigerated.
To the large bowl, add parsley and bread, mix to combine. Add eggs and stir to combine. Add broth in two parts, stirring after until the broth has been absorbed in each addition. Season with more salt and pepper. Transfer stuffing to prepared dish. Bake stuffing on middle rack 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Let sit 5 minutes before serving. Keeps well in the fridge for 3-5 days.