La Buona Cucina Americana: Thanksgiving Filling

27 CommentsFriday • April 18, 2008 • by michelle

Or stuffing or dressing depending on where you’re from.

Thanksgiving is absolutely my favorite holiday. It’s all about giving thanks and eating–two of my favorite things. And while I *like* turkey, for me the stars of Thanksgiving are the side dishes. Love them.

I love my mom’s filling the most–so much that it is my first contribution to La Buona Cucina Americana.

If you don’t know what this is, read Judith in Umbria’s description here.

Essentially we Americans are tired of the trash-talking (pun intended) about our cuisine. Contrary to popular stereotypes (often involving Golden Arches), Americans do shop at markets, slice and dice fresh ingredients, and otherwise make real homemade meals.

Through La Buona Cucina Americana, we are sharing some of our favorite recipes in English and Italian so our Italian amici can try them out too.

So far we’ve had:

• Mary’s American Style Shepherd Pie
• Judith’s Chicken Pot Pie
• Barb’s Scalloped Potatoes
• Sara’s Barbecue Baked Beans

And now, straight from my mom’s cucina:

Thanksgiving Filling

• 1 stick of butter
• 3 carrots, peeled and shredded
• 3 celery stalks, chopped finely
• 1 large onion, chopped finely
• handful of parsley, chopped finely
• 1 loaf stale bread, in chunks (sliced bread is fine)
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Melt butter in large pan and add carrots, celery, onion, and parsley. Sauté for about 10 minutes.

3. In the meantime, make sure the water and broth are heated and grease a medium-sized baking dish with butter.

4. When carrots, celery, and onion are soft, pour water and broth into pan.

5. Add bread cubes, which should look something like this:

6. Mix with wooden spoon until all bread is moistened, but don’t overmix.

7. Pour mixture into baking dish, and bake in oven for about an hour, a little longer to get an even crunchier top.

8. Let sit for about five minutes after you take it out of the oven before serving.

Notes:

• I bake mine in the oven because I like an uber-crunchy top, but you can also use this as a traditional “stuffing” by stuffing this inside the bird of your choice; just let it cool off before you do so.

• Some of you may be wondering where the sausage is. My mom doesn’t make hers with sausage, so I don’t either. P–like a true Calabrian–asked if I would include it next time, and I will because I’m a good fidanzata.

Ripieno tradizionale per tacchino per il giorno di Ringraziamento

• 110 g di burro
• 3 carote pelate e grattugiate
• 3 gambi di sedano tritati
• 1 cipolla (bianca o gialla) grande tritata
• prezzemolo tritato q.b.
• 600 g di pane secco a cubetti
• 250 mL di brodo (vegetale o pollo)

1. Preriscaldare il forno a 180°C.

2. Fate squagliare il burro in una padella grande e aggiungete le carote, il sedano, la cipolla, ed il prezzemolo. Fate appassire per una decina di minuti.

3. Nel frattempo, assicuratevi che l’acqua ed il brodo sono caldi e imburrare la casseruola.

4. Quando le carote, il sedano, e la cipolla diventeranno morbidi, aggiungete l’acqua ed il brodo.

5. Aggiungete i cubetti di pane.

6. Mescolate con un cucchiaio di legno solo fino ad umidire il pane ma non troppo.

7. Versate il composto nella casseruola. Infornate per circa un’ora, qualche minuti in più per una crosta più croccante.

8. Fate riposarlo per circa 5 minuti prima di servirlo.

Annotazioni:

• Io lo cucino al forno perché mi piace una crosta croccantissima ma potete usare il composto anche come un ripieno tradizionale. Lasciatelo raffredare, quindi usatelo per riempire un tacchino, un pollo, ecc.

• Forse state cercando la salsiccia nella ricetta. Mia mamma non la usa quindi non la uso neach’io. Il mio fidanzato P–come un vero Calabrese–mi ha chiesto di aggiungerla e la prossima volta lo farò perché sono una brava fidanzata.

Buon appetito!