Fennel Sausage Stuffing Recipes

SAUSAGE AND FENNEL STUFFING

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 350 F. Generously butter a 9x13 baking dish with 2 tablespoons of softened butter. Set aside.
• In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook, breaking up with a spoon, until browned. Remove the sausage from the pan with a slotted spoon (leave all that fat behind!) and transfer to a small bowl.
• Add the leeks, onion, and fennel to the skillet and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the leeks are starting to brown. Then, add the apple, sage, and rosemary and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Once the apples are slightly browned, add the white wine and cook until most of the wine has evaporated. Turn off the heat, add the remaining butter, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
• In a large mixing bowl, toss the bread with the sausage mixture and gently mix in 2 cups of the chicken broth. Take care to just gently toss the bread so it doesn't break apart too much. Let the bread sit for 10 minutes.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and remaining stock until smooth. Pour over the bread mixture and gently toss to combine, making sure all the bread is moist and evenly coated. Transfer to the prepared baking dish, cover with foil, and bake for 30 minutes.
• Remove the foil and bake for another 30 minutes or so, until the top is nicely browned and crisp. Remove from the oven, rest 10 minutes, and serve.

SAUSAGE FENNEL STUFFING

Steps:

• In a 10- to 12-inch heavy skillet cook sausage over moderately high heat, stirring and breaking up lumps with a fork, until no longer pink. Transfer sausage with a slotted spoon to a large bowl.
• Add butter to fat remaining in skillet and cook onions, chopped fennel, fennel seeds, and salt to taste over moderate heat, stirring, until fennel is softened, about 10 minutes. Add apéritif, thyme, and tarragon and cook, stirring, until most liquid is evaporated. Add mixture to sausage with corn bread or packaged stuffing and toss to combine well. Season stuffing with salt and pepper and cool completely. Stuffing may be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered. (To prevent bacterial growth do not stuff turkey cavities ahead.)

WILD RICE, SAUSAGE AND FENNEL STUFFING

Steps:

• Combine broth, rice, 1 cup water and fennel seeds in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover and simmer until rice is tender, stirring occasionally, about 55 minutes. Drain.
• Sauté sausage in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat until cooked through, breaking up with back of spoon, about 10 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer sausage to paper towels and drain. Add chopped fennel bulbs and onions to drippings in skillet. Sauté over medium-high heat until vegetables are golden, about 10 minutes. Add rice and sausage to skillet. Sauté until heated through, about 3 minutes. Stir in walnuts, if desired. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. If serving as side dish, rewarm covered in 350°F. oven for 20 minutes.) Transfer to bowl and serve. If using as stuffing, cool completely and fill bird.

SAUSAGE FENNEL STUFFING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°F.
• Spread bread crumbs in 2 shallow baking pans and bake in upper and lower thirds of oven until golden and dry, about 15 minutes. Cool crumbs in pans on racks, then transfer to a large bowl.
• Cook sausage in a dry 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderate heat, stirring and breaking up pieces with a fork, until browned and cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to bowl with bread crumbs with a slotted spoon.
• Melt 6 tablespoons butter in skillet over moderate heat, then add onions, fennel bulb, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are softened, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Finely grind fennel seeds in coffee/spice grinder, then add to vegetables in skillet along with thyme and tarragon and cook, stirring, 1 minute.
• Transfer vegetables to bowl with bread crumbs and sausage and toss gently but thoroughly. Spoon stuffing into a buttered 3- to 3 1/2-quart shallow baking dish. Drizzle with stock and dot with remaining 2 tablespoons butter, cut into bits. Bake, covered, in middle of oven 30 minutes, then uncover and bake until browned, about 30 minutes more.

SAUSAGE PEAR STUFFING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread bread cubes on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until crisped but not golden, about 10 minutes. Let cool. In a 14-inch straight-sided skillet (or 2 large skillets), melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onions, leeks, celery, fennel, and pears; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables and pears are softened and start to turn golden, about 15 minutes. Stir in rosemary and sage.
• Meanwhile, cook sausage in a skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally and breaking into large crumbles, until browned and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Stir into vegetable mixture, then transfer to a large bowl. Add bread cubes and toss well. Drizzle stock over mixture, add eggs and parsley, and toss to combine well. Season with 2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Use 10 cups stuffing to fill bird; place remainder in a buttered 8-inch-square baking dish. After turkey is out of oven, bake at 350 degrees until heated through and top is browned, 40 to 45 minutes.

OVEN-BAKED FENNEL SAUSAGE STUFFING FOR A CROWD

Steps:

• Dry your bread ahead of time by cutting it into 1/2 inch slices (if it isn't already sliced) and laying them on a single layer on baking sheets or cooling racks, and leaving them out overnight. The next day, cut the slices into 1/2 inch cubes and allow them to dry for another night. If you are in a hurry or they don't dry enough from just laying them out, dry the slices in a 225-degree oven until brittle but not brown, 30 - 40 minutes. Then cut them into cubes and proceed. You want to end up with nice 1/2 inch cubes that are not quite as dry as croutons but close to that.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare two 9x13 pans with butter or cooking spray. Prepare the wild rice mix as directed on the package.
• Brown the sausage in a large pan. Remove the cooked sausage with a slotted spoon and set aside. Keep the rendered fat in the pan.
• Add 8 tablespoons butter to the pan and melt. Add the onion, celery and fennel and saute over medium-high heat and saute until translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir in all of the spices and saute for an additional 2-3 minutes until nice and fragrant. Remove from heat and the sausage back inches.
• Mix the onion mixture with the dried bread in a very large bowl (I use a large stock pot). Add in the parsley, broth and eggs and mix everything together gently but well.
• Divide the mixture into the two prepared pans. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and drizzle over the top of the stuffing. Cover the pans tightly with greased aluminum foil. You can refrigerate the stuffing at this point if you want to prepare it earlier in the day.
• Bake in the oven covered for 25 minutes, until fragrant (30-35 minutes if refrigerated). Remove foil and bake until golden brown crust forms on top, 15 to 20 minutes longer. Serve warm.