SAUSAGE STUFFING WITH CARAMELIZED LEEKS AND ONIONS

SAUSAGE STUFFING WITH CARAMELIZED LEEKS AND ONIONS image

Number Of Ingredients 14

16 oz. bread crumbs or stuffing mix (I used Trader Joe's)
2 tablespoons fennel seeds
1-1/4 lb. turkey breakfast sausage (Jennie O)
2 tablespoons butter
3-1/2 cups chopped leeks (white and pale green parts only)
3 cups chopped onions (about 2 medium onions)
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
3 celery stalks, diced
1 large fresh fennel bulb, trimmed and diced
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 cup (packed) golden raisins
1-1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
1-1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
2-1/2 cups low salt chicken broth (or more to your liking)

Steps:

Stir fennel seeds in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Transfer fennel seeds to small bowl. Cook sausage in the same skillet until brown and cooked through, breaking up the sausage into bite sized pieces, about 10 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer sausage to large bowl. Add butter to drippings in skillet and melt over medium-high heat. Add leeks, onions, carrots, celeray and fennel bulb and sauté until leeks and onions are soft and deep brown, about 20 minutes. Add the garlic and toasted fennel seeds and sauté 3 minutes. Transfer vegetable mixture to bowl with sausage. Stir in raisins, sage, thyme and chicken broth. Refrigerate overnight for use in stuffing turkey the next day. Note: I also added the package of Trader Joes's stuffing seasoning to give the stuffing extra flavor.