Tuscan Style Dressing w/ Sausage, Fennel, & Hazlenuts Recipe
It’s November! It’s NOVEMBER! And that means Thanksgiving is just around the corner. My first gluten-free Thanksgiving was just two years ago. I’m never one to mess with tradition…and traditional holiday recipes especially. But having no choice, I had to tweak just about every single Thanksgiving recipe to make it gluten-free. Happily, my family was (and continues to be) extremely supportive–new cutting boards were purchased, foods were prepared carefully to avoid cross-contamination, and much research and trial-and-error went into our first GF holiday.
Luckily, some companies are making it even easier to have a gluten-free holiday–like Rudi’s. This year they have come out with a truly yummy stuffing mix that I had the opportunity to test drive…test bake?…in my kitchen last week. It’s really awesome, guys, and super easy to jazz up, if that’s your sort of thing. My usual Thanksgiving dressing (that’s what we call it in our family) always includes a little sausage, some fruit, and some nuts. Using that formula, I created what I think is a really fantastic Tuscan-style dressing with fennel, spicy Italian sausage, and roasted hazelnuts.
And guess what? I’ve partnered with Rudi’s for ANOTHER GIVEAWAY (it’s like giveaway central these days on the blog…). You’ll have the opportunity to win $90 worth of products and merchandise (all that stuff in the top photo). And if you head over to Rudi’s Facebook Page you’ll find lots of giveaways over there! How awesome is that?
Enter to win here using the rafflecopter below!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Tuscan Style Dressing w/ Sausage, Fennel, & Hazlenuts
In my family stuffing is called "dressing" and not really stuffed into the bird at all, rather baked separately in a covered casserole dish. I almost always add sausage to my dressing as it lends tremendous flavor and moisture. This recipe, inspired by the flavors of Tuscany, makes use of Rudi's new pre-packed gluten-free stuffing mix. To make the whole thing from scratch, cube a loaf of gluten-free bread and let it dry out over night (I'd recommend trying gluten-free foccia bread).
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup hazlenuts
- 1 pound link spicy Italian sausage
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 large onion, diced
- 3 stalks of celery, diced
- 1 fennel bulb, green top cut off and reserved, stem end cut off and discarded, and the rest diced
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley
- 1/4 cup chopped fennel frond (the green top part)
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper
- 1 package Rudi's gluten-free stuffing mix
- 2 cups turkey stock (or chicken stock)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place hazelnuts on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until lightly golden brown, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven and pour into a clean dish towel. Rub nuts with the towel until the skins peel off. Chop nuts in half and place in a large bowl. Set aside.
Heat a large skillet over a medium flame. Remove sausage from casing and break apart with a spatula. Cook sausage until brown and crumbly and pour into the bowl with the nuts.
Return pan to stove and add butter. When butter has melted add onions, celery and fennel and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and translucent, about 10 minutes. Pour into the bowl with the sausage and nuts.
Add the parsley, chopped fennel frond, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper and stuffing mix and toss to combine. Gently toss stuffing mixture with the stock and place in a well-greased covered casserole dish (2 quart) and refrigerate until ready to use.
Take stuffing from the refrigerator about 1 hour before you are ready to bake it. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake stuffing, covered, for 30 minutes. Remove cover from stuffing and bake 15 minutes more, until golden brown on top. Serve immediately.
2.2