Staff Recipes: Sean’s Cornbread Stuffing

Sean Akers is the Manager of the University District Farmers Market.

One Holiday Recipe I love is Cornbread Stuffing with Sausage and Fennel, (adapted from Bon Appetit’s Cornbread Dressing). The only thing that I really changed when I made this last year was switching out the wine for some apple cider and using apples instead of pears. It worked really well, though, and my fiancé Gabri and I enjoyed it.

Ingredients:

• 8 cups ½” cubes Easy Savory Cornbread (click for recipe)

• 1 pound bulk breakfast sausage or links, casings removed (from Nature’s Last Stand or any of our vendors)

• 10 tablespoons (1¼ sticks) unsalted butter, divided, plus more for baking dish

• 1 medium fennel bulb, chopped, plus fronds for serving

• 4 celery stalks, chopped

• 8 scallions, white and pale-green parts only, thinly sliced

• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

• 2 apples, peeled, chopped

• ½ cup dry apple cider (from Rockridge Orchards)

• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh marjoram or oregano

• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

• 1 teaspoon dried sage leaves

• 2 cups (or more) low-sodium chicken broth, divided

• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 3 large eggs, beaten to blend

Preheat oven to 300°. Divide cornbread between 2 large rimmed baking sheets. Bake, tossing occasionally, until beginning to brown in spots and dry out, 40–45 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat, breaking up with a spoon, until dark brown, 6–8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer sausage to a small bowl; let cool.

Reduce heat to medium and heat 8 Tbsp. butter in same skillet. Add fennel, celery, scallions, and garlic and cook, stirring often, until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.

Add apples and cider, increase heat to medium-high, and cook, stirring occasionally, until cider is almost completely evaporated, about 5 minutes.

Increase oven temperature to 400°. Butter a 13x9x2” baking dish. Combine sausage, fennel mixture, parsley, marjoram, thyme, sage, and 1½ cups broth in a large bowl. Add cornbread and toss to combine; season with salt and pepper. Let sit 10 minutes, then add remaining ½ cup broth and toss, adding more broth if needed (bread should be very moist but not soggy). Add eggs and mix gently just to combine. Transfer dressing to prepared baking dish and dot with remaining 2 Tbsp. butter.

Cover dressing with foil and bake until heated through, about 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake until dressing is golden and crisp on top, 20–30 minutes longer.Serve topped with fennel fronds.

DO AHEAD: Cornbread can be toasted 1 day ahead; store tightly wrapped at room temperature. Fennel and sausage mixture can be cooked 1 day ahead. Cover and chill separately.