Cornbread Dressing with Sausage and Apples

Yet another recipe from our Thanksgiving dinner is this stuffing.  I particularly liked the contrast in flavors between the three different breads, the sausage and the apples.  This was a nice change from the Stove Top we're used to.

First things first, I had to make the cornbread for this recipe. I'll post that recipe separately from this one.  You'll want to cut these cubes in advance so they can dry out for several hours or overnight.

When you're ready to begin making this stuffing you'll want to go ahead and start with the mushrooms since they have to cook in the oven at a different temperatures than the stuffing.  I just cut these button mushrooms in half, stem and all.

While the mushrooms are in the oven, get started browning the sausage and cutting the onions.

Once the meat has browned - put it into a dish and set aside.  Put the cut onions into the same pan as the sausage (no washing needed) and caramelize the onions.  Once they are a nice color add the diced apples. You can add the brown sugar in with the apples also. Once the apples have browned a bit, add a cup of white wine and let it bubble for a few minutes.

Pour the apple, onion mixture into a bowl and set aside.  I'm sorry I didn't pictures of these next several steps but I had a lot going on.  Refer to the original recipe for more photos. 

In the same pan that the onions and apples just came out of you'll want to pour in the chicken broth and add the seasonings and the rosemary.

Now, in a big bowl put your bread cubes first, then the sausage meat and juice...

Then add the apple/onion mixture.

Now the mushrooms.  You pick the order, it doesn't really matter.

Now slowly add the broth mixture and stir after each addition of the broth so you can determine how moist you want your stuffing to be.

I ended up putting this into two 9x13 inch pans so I could get more crunchy bits on the top.  Cook until golden brown.  I also froze one entire pan since this made A LOT!  I'll let you know how the frozen pan  tastes after we've eaten it.  My husband really enjoyed this stuffing and so did I.  This is a good recipe if you've got a large crowd to cook for!  I'll be trying some other recipes throughout the year just for some comparisons.  Give this a try this holiday season!

Here's where you can find the recipe: Cornbread Dressing with Sausage and Apples