Nonna Bellas Spinach Sausage Stuffing Recipes

SPINACH-SAUSAGE STUFFING

Steps:

• Melt 1 stick butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook 1 pound crumbled sausage in the butter. Add 2 cups each diced onion and celery and 1 tablespoon each minced sage and thyme; add salt and pepper and cook 5 minutes. Add 3 cups chicken or turkey broth and 4 cups chopped spinach; bring to a simmer. Beat 2 eggs with 1/4 cup chopped parsley in a large bowl; add 6 cups cubed stale cornbread and 8 cups white bread and 1/3 cup each pine nuts and grated parmesan, then pour in the vegetable-broth mixture and toss. Transfer to a buttered baking dish and dot with butter. Cover and bake at 375 degrees F, 30 minutes; uncover and bake until golden, about 30 more minutes.

SAUSAGE AND SPINACH STUFFING

Steps:

• DIRECTIONS Preheat oven to 250⁰F. Place cubed ciabatta on two rimmed baking sheets and bake, stirring occasionally, 10-12 minutes or until lightly toasted. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Increase oven temperature to 350⁰F. Butter 3 1/2-quart baking dish and set aside. In large sauté pan, melt 2 tablespoons unsalted butter. Add sausage and onion, cooking over medium to medium-high heat, stirring frequently until sausage is browned. Add mushrooms and cook for another minute. Add spinach, sage and garlic, tossing frequently, cooking until spinach wilts. Remove from heat. Melt remaining 4 tablespoons butter. Pour melted butter over sausage mixture. Add chicken broth, rosemary, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Add toasted bread cubes and toss until evenly coated. Press mixture into prepared baking dish and cover with foil. Bake 35 minutes, then remove cover and bake 10-15 minutes more to brown top. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

SPINACH - SAUSAGE STUFFING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325
• Drain all liquid from thawed spinach & place in a large bowl.
• Brown sausage in a large oven safe pan & drain fat.
• Add sausage to spinach.
• Saute onion, sweet peppers & celery in butter until tender (use same large pan).
• Add seasonings.
• Add bread cubes & spinach/sausage
• Drizzle with broth until moist.
• Cover & bake for 45 minutes.

NONNA'S INFAMOUS STUFFED CHOKES

Steps:

• Cut off stems of artichokes and set aside. Cut off top of artichoke leaves, creating a flat top. Cut thorns off top of each leaf on artichoke. Gently stretch artichoke from inside to create hole for stuffing. Cut away little purple/white thorny leaves in center. Peel away outer skin of stems so that it is fresh all around. Chop stems into small cubes for stuffing.
• In a large bowl drizzle olive oil over bread cubes until they're moist. Add salt and pepper, chopped onion and garlic, sliced olives and chopped stems. Work together with hands. Check olive oil content by squeezing stuffing into a ball in your hand. If it sticks together, there's enough oil, if not, add more. Stuff mixture tightly into center of artichokes -- as tightly as possible.
• In a large stove top pot (i.e. Dutch Oven) add water half way up artichokes. Artichokes should be firmly together in pan. Add salt and 1 1/2 cups of extra virgin olive oil to water. Make certain water is high enough but not beyond half way. Bring water to a slow boil in covered pot. Baste leaves around stuffing with broth from the pan every 15 to 20 minutes for approx. 3 hours. When outside leaves are tender they're done. Before removing from pan, baste stuffing one last time, then pack down stuffing with a fork. Serve with a little bit of broth in bottom of bowl.
• The recipes for this program, which were provided by contributors and guests who may not be professional chefs, have not been tested in the Food Network's kitchens. Therefore, the Food Network cannot attest to the accuracy of any of the recipes.

NONNA BELLA'S SPINACH & SAUSAGE STUFFING

Steps:

• Wash spinach and remove hard stems. Steam in small amount of water. Use only 2/3 of cooked spinach. Chop spinach. Wash liver and chop finely or put through meat grinder. In large skillet, break up sausage meat. Cook on medium heat. Drain grease off as meat cooks. Sausage should be grease-free. Remove from heat - set to one side. In another large skillet, pour enough olive oil to spread thinly over bottom of pan. Mince small clove of fresh garlic (or a good pinch of minced garlic). Add chopped liver to garlic and brown all together. When liver is well browned, add cooked and well-drained sausage meat. *Keep skillet on a low flame while doing all this mixing. Squeeze water out of stale bread -remove outer crust. Use only inside crumbs. Break bread into small crumbs - add to sausage mixture. With kitchen fork (a good, sturdy fork), mix sausage and bread crumbs - then add spinach - and continue mixing. Season with good pinch of salt - add some pepper. Continue blending spinach, bread and sausage. Remove skillet from heat. Cover. One hour later - or so - (when mixture has cooled), add egg - mix into meat mixture. Remove stuffing from skillet, place in bowl - cover well and refrigerate. Stuffing can be prepared the night before using.

FLORENTINE SAUSAGE, RICOTTA, AND SPINACH STUFFING

Steps:

• In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat.
• Add the onion and garlic; cook, stirring often, until the onion is softened, about 3 minutes.
• Add the sausage and Italian seasoning; increase the heat to med-high; cook, stirring often and breaking up the meat with a spoon, until the sausage is cooked through, about 10 minutes.
• Scrape the sausage mixture into a large bowl.
• Mix in the breadcrumbs, ricotta cheese, spinach, Parmesan cheese, eggs, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.
• Transfer mixture to a lightly buttered shallow baking dish; bake, uncovered, in a preheated 350° oven for 30 minutes.
• This makes a soft, spoonable stuffing.

STUFFING & SAUSAGE STRATA

Steps:

• In a large skillet, cook sausage and mushrooms over medium heat 6-8 minutes or until meat is no longer pink, breaking into crumbles; drain., In a greased 13x9-in. baking dish, layer half of each of the following; stuffing, cheese and sausage mixture. Repeat layers. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, milk and salt until blended. Pour over layers. Refrigerate, covered, overnight., Preheat oven to 325°. Remove strata from refrigerator while oven heats. Bake, uncovered, 1-1-1/4 hours or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.