Savory Bacon And Mushroom Stuffing Recipes

SAVORY MUSHROOM DRESSING

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Spread the bread cubes out on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until golden and crisp, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
• Trim the dry part from the bottom of the cremini stem and quarter. Stem and quarter the shiitakes. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter with the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms, shallots, garlic, and rosemary and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables soften and brown, about 25 minutes. Add an additional tablespoon of butter, if needed, to prevent sticking. Carefully add the Cognac (if working over gas, pull the skillet from the heat), and simmer until the liquid is slightly syrupy. Stir in the chicken broth and salt and bring to a simmer.
• Whisk the cream, eggs, and pepper, to taste, in a large bowl. Add the bread, mushroom mixture, and parsley and toss until the bread is moistened. Transfer the dressing to a buttered 1 1/2-quart baking dish. Bake, uncovered, until the dressing sets and the top browns, about 1 hour. Let dressing sit for 15 minutes before serving.

BREAD STUFFING WITH MUSHROOMS AND BACON

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°F. Spread bread cubes on 2 baking sheets. Bake until bread cubes are dry and crisp, stirring occasionally, about 25 minutes. Transfer bread to large bowl.
• Sauté bacon in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat until brown and crisp. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels and drain. Pour off all but 1/4 cup drippings from skillet. Add chopped leeks and celery to skillet and sauté until tender and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Add mushrooms, sage, thyme, salt and pepper and sauté until tender, about 10 minutes. Pour mushroom mixture over bread cubes. Add bacon and toss to blend. Mix in 2 cups broth. (Stuffing can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 13 x 9 x 2-inch glass baking dish. Beat eggs and baking powder in small bowl to blend. Mix eggs into stuffing; moisten stuffing with more broth if stuffing is dry. Transfer to prepared baking dish. Bake stuffing until cooked through and golden brown on top, about 1 hour.

STUFFING WITH MUSHROOMS, LEEKS AND BACON

Steps:

• Heat oven to 250 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Trim the crusts from the white bread and cut into 1-inch cubes; if using corn bread, coarsely crumble it. Spread the bread pieces out on one or two large baking sheets. Toast in the oven, tossing occasionally, until very dry, about 30 minutes for white bread, 1 hour for corn bread. Transfer to a large bowl to cool. Increase oven temperature to 375 degrees.
• In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the bacon strips until crisp. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain, leaving the fat in the pan. Add the leeks to the bacon fat and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Cook, tossing frequently, until mushrooms are tender and most of their juices have evaporated, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the sage and cook 1 minute. Add the wine and cook until it evaporates, about 2 minutes.
• Spoon the mushroom mixture over the dried bread. Stir in stock. If using white bread, stir in the cider. Add parsley, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. The mixture should be moist and very soft. If you like your stuffing extremely moist, add enough stock to make it seem slightly soggy but not wet. (Think pudding.) Crumble bacon and stir it in.
• Transfer the bread mixture to the prepared baking pan. Drizzle 3 tablespoons melted butter over the stuffing. Bake until golden, 35 to 45 minutes.