(KFSM) -- Thanksgiving is just a couple days away, and many are already preparing for the big meal. One Thanksgiving staple is dressing, or stuffing. 5NEWS This Morning Anchor April Baker spoke to Executive Chef Matthew McClure with 21C Museum hotel in Bentonville with a new look at an old favorite.
"Stuffing is probably one of the most important parts of Thanksgiving. I take it very seriously," said McClure. "This labor of love or long term dish can actually be made very quickly on Thanksgiving."
Take celery, fresh sage and thyme, shiitake mushrooms, some chili flakes, garlic, butter, cooked cornbread and sausage. " You can use breakfast sausage," McClure said. "But stay away from the ones with sugar and maple."
Warm the pan on medium to medium high heat, adding some vegetable oil. Add in the onions, celery and garlic. Once they get soft, start adding everything else. "I add the sausage, mushrooms, a little white wine, turkey stock, sage, fresh thyme and chili flakes. Add a little bit of salt and it's ready to go in the baking pan."
Right before placing the pan in the oven, McClure adds pats of butter to the top to melt.
Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.
Once you pull the pan out of the oven, it's pretty much ready to go. "I put a little bit of chopped parsley on there, and essentially it's ready to serve," McClure said.
INGREDIENTS:
- 2x batch of buttermilk cornbread
- 2 qts turkey stock
- 1 pt diced onions
- 1 pt diced celery
- 1 cup chopped garlic
- 1 cup chopped fresh sage
- 1 pt ground pork shoulder
- 1 tsp red chili flake
- 1 pt sliced shiitake mushrooms
- ½ cup picked fresh thyme
- ½ cup white wine
- ½ lb whole unsalted Butter
- 3 TB Salt
Preparation to stuffing:
- In a large pan, add ground pork and cook through fully. Remove ground pork from the pan and reserve.
- Add the onions and celery to the pan with a little canola oil and a pinch of kosher salt. As they soften add garlic. Keep on a medium to low heat while cooking.
- Add mushrooms and white wine to the pan. Cook down until the wine has reduced by half. Add the pork back into the pan.
- At this point, add the rest of the ingredients except the turkey stock, butter and cornbread.
- In a separate mixing bowl, gently mix the cornbread with the pork mixture. Once mixed, add about half the turkey stock to moisten the mixture. Season with salt.
- Add the mixture to a 9”x12” baking pan and add more stock until it is a moist texture. Cut the butter into small pads and place around top of the stuffing.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-45 minutes, until it has warmed through and browned on top.