SAGE SAUSAGE, APPLE AND CRAISIN DRESSING

Sage Sausage, Apple and Craisin Dressing image

This is a recipe I use every year for our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. I usually double this recipe for the amount of people we have over. It is wonderful as left-overs, also. The nice thing about this is that it can be prepped the day before, so on the day your cooking, you just pop it into the oven (less dirty dishes and more free time that morning). I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as our family does.

Provided by rosie316

Categories Pork

Time 1h25m

Yield 8 serving(s)

Number Of Ingredients 11

Ingredients

1 lb jimmy dean sage sausage (in the tube)
16 ounces plain stuffing cubes (not crumbs)
6 tablespoons butter, divided (plus more for greasing dish and for topping)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 -2 granny smith apple, cored, peeled and diced small (depending on size)
1 stalk celery, diced small (including leafy end)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 cups chicken broth (I use Swanson)
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/2 cup craisins
1 egg, beaten

Steps:

Pre-heat oven to 325*F. Butter a 3 quart casserole dish. Place stuffing cubes in a large bowl.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat and add sage sausage (breaking up with a wooden spoon). Cook until almost all the pink is gone, but not so much that it gets dry (about 5 minutes). Pour cooked sausage AND all the drippings over the top of the stuffing cubes (Do Not mix in yet).
Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter in the same pan and add onion, apple, celery and the salt. Cook (stirring often) until veggies start to soften (about 5 minutes). Add the chicken broth and parsley to the pan and bring to just boiling.
Once boiling, pour broth and veggie mixture over the stuffing cubes and sausage.Gently toss everything until evenly moistened (if it seems that it needs more moisture, add 1 tablespoon of water). Now add in Craisins and the beaten egg. Mix well.
"Loosely" pack the dressing into the prepared casserole dish. (At this point you can "tightly" cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate it over night to bake the next day, just remove the wrap, gently stir in about 1 tablespoon of water, "lightly "pack again and let it rest on the counter about a 1/2 hour before placing in the oven).
Bake the dressing, UNCOVERED, until the top starts forming a crust (about 40 minutes). While it's baking, melt an additional 2 tablespoons of butter (unless you prefer to use 2 tablespoons turkey drippings). Once the 40 minutes are up, drizzle the butter (or turkey drippings) over the top of the dressing and return to the oven for an additional 20 minutes. Serve warm.
(If your turkey is already roasting at the same temperature, you could add the dressing during the last hour. If your oven temp is different, you may need to adjust baking time). Enjoy!