With Thanksgiving looming large on the culinary horizon we’ve been fishing around for a week or so looking for a great cornbread stuffing recipe to suit our new Southern digs.
As good fortune would have it a few days ago friend and uber-talented chef Libby (Austin by way of New Orleans) called with a question she needed help with.
We didn’t start off talking food, she was looking for tips and suggestions regarding a spring mayfly excursion on the Firehole next June, though as always the talk turned to good eats. Libby mostly does high-end catering now, as it allows her to control her schedule pretty well, flex her creative muscles and yet not have the anchor of owning and managing a restaurant hanging around her neck continually.
Longtime foodie readers (might) remember that Libby’s roots are strongly Cajun with a generous helping of Southern Comfort Food thrown in for good measure. That said, naturally I bugged her for her favorite Southern-themed cornbread stuffing recipe.
We laughed about the fact that everybody and their dog has a stuffing recipe that their momma or grandmomma used to make that is indisputably the best on the planet, though Libby said her Bacon Pecan Cornbread Stuffing really is in the top three stuffings she’s ever tasted.
Who can argue with bacon, cornbread, sourdough, pecans and lots of other good stuff?
Thanks Libby, and we’ll see you on the Firehole in June.
12 cups 3/4-inch chunks stale cornbread (your favorite recipe)
6 medium-thick slices sourdough bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 and 1/2 cups toasted pecans, roughly chopped
Generous 1/2 cup (or more to taste) flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1 lb. applewood smoked bacon, chopped (3/4 inch pieces)
Bacon drippings and melted butter to make up 1 cup
2 large onions, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded, cored and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
4 large celery ribs, trimmed and sliced, keep what leaves you can
1 tbsp. (generous) sage, chopped
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
6 cups chicken or turkey stock
3 large eggs, beaten
1 tsp. fresh ground pepper
Dry the breads. At least a day ahead of time, cook the cornbread and slice the sourdough; chop the cornbread and set out to dry on a cookie sheet along with the sourdough.
Other prep. Toast the pecans if needed; spray a 9×13 inch glass baking pan with cooking spray.
Get started. Mix the chopped cornbread, sourdough bread, pecans and parsley in a large bowl.
Bacon time. Chop and fry the bacon until crisp; measure out 1/2 to 2/3 cup drippings and discard the rest. Add melted salted butter to the drippings to make 1 cup; stir to mix.
Sauté time. Pour roughly half of the butter / bacon drippings mixture back into the bacon skillet, add the chopped onions, bell pepper and celery and sauté until limp and beginning to caramelize. Add the sage and thyme; cook another couple of minutes.
Now mix it all up. Pour the sautéed vegetables over the bread mixture then add half (3 cups or so) the stock, beaten eggs, the cooked bacon and pepper. Mix well and pour into the greased baking pan; add another 2-3 cups of stock to moisten well.
Bake it. Cover tightly with foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or so; remove the foil, stir well, cover again and bake another 20 minutes. Now remove the foil cover, stir one more time, and bake another 15-20 minutes until it’s as brown and crispy as you want it (we like ours crispy on top).
Serve piping hot with a big slab of turkey and drizzle with gravy; plays well with chicken and pork too.
Enjoy.
