Thanksgiving Stuffing

Several years back we started celebrating Thanksgiving with a traditional meal. Stuffing was one of the recipes I wanted to make. Though the word stuffing suggests it is used to stuff something, stuffing is also eaten as a side. It was the side that I wanted to make. Having no idea where to begin I started asking around and searching online. I found prepackaged bags of bread cubes with spices. You were supposed to add the vegetables and bake it. It seemed simple enough so I bought a package and tried it. We did not enjoy it. Next year I bought a different brand but stuffing remained the least popular of the Thanksgiving dishes. Over the years I have refined all my thanksgiving recipes and a couple years ago I found this stuffing recipe made of a day old challah loaf.

I have not made any other recipe since then. This is my annual go to recipe. It has a mix of vegetables, fresh made vegetable stock and the very flavorful challah loaf. Challah is a rich flavorful bread and my daughter munches on the loaf all by itself. This year I had planned to bake the challah myself but things got rather hectic just before Thanksgiving so that did not happen. I have promised myself to make it next year. We shall see. In the meantime here is the recipe for stuffing.

Recipe adapted from here.

You will need (for one 13 x 17 baking pan)
1 loaf of day old challah (I got it from Whole Foods)
2 cups celery, diced
2 cups onion, diced
2 cups carrots, diced
8-10 sprigs thyme, use leaves, discard stem
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
3 cups vegetable stock
2 oz. butter for cooking
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper, freshly ground

Cut the challah into small cubes. Spread the cubes on a baking sheet for at least a day up to 3 days.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Dice the onion, carrots and celery.

Heat 1 oz. butter in a heavy bottomed pan. Add the onions and sauté until transparent.

Add thyme, parsley, celery and carrots. Cook for about 10 minutes, do not cook them completely.

Prepare a 13x9 baking dish by rubbing some of the remaining butter on the bottom. Melt the rest to combine with the stuffing mixture. In a large bowl, combine the bread, partially cooked vegetable mixture, vegetable broth and the melted butter. Season it with salt and black pepper.

Transfer the mixture to the baking dish.

Bake covered with foil for 45 minutes. Remove foil and let it brown for about 15 minutes. Serve hot.

Enjoy!