Cornbread Stuffing with Apples and Fennel
Another Thanksgiving side dish I look forward to each year: stuffing. Now, my family has always made ours out of a box out of nostalgia for my dad’s childhood holiday memories. However, this year, I thought I would combine one of my family’s favorite things, cornbread, with my favorite holiday side dish, stuffing. And here we are. I add fennel and apple to mine for an extra autumnal boost. I loved how this came out and I hope you will too!
This recipe is adapted from the NYT Cooking Cornbread Stuffing recipe linked here.
INGREDIENTS
Cornbread
1 cup yellow cornmeal, preferably organic stone ground
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, can also use whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt or buttermilk
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp milk honey
2-3 tbsp unsalted butter, to taste
Stuffing
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, or 1 tbsp each olive oil and unsalted butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
Sea salt, to taste
4 stalks celery, cut into 1/2 inch dice
2 tart green apples, cored, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch dice
Bulb of fennel (roughly measured 1 cup), diced into 1/2 inch dice
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp rubbed sage, or 2 tbsp chopped fresh sage
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves or 1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
Batch of cornbread (see above), crumbled*
1/2 cup milk, or as necessary, for moistening
4 tbsp unsalted butter, if baking separately
*I only made 1 batch of cornbread; original recipe calls for a double batch. I found the stuffing came out perfectly balanced when I did only the 1 batch. I crumbled 1/4 of the cornbread batch I made and then cubed the rest into roughly 1 inch cubes because my family prefers this texture for stuffing as opposed to crumbled.
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 F. Place a 9-inch cast iron skillet, a heavy 2-quart baking dish or a heavy 9-inch square baking pan in the oven while you prepare the batter.
Place the cornmeal in a bowl, and sift in the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Stir the mixture with a spoon or whisk to amalgamate. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, yogurt (or buttermilk), milk and honey. Whisk the cornmeal mixture into the liquid mixture. Do not overwork the batter.
Remove the pan from the oven, and add the butter to the pan. Swirl the pan so that the butter melts quickly before it gets too brown, then quickly whisk the butter into the batter. Brush the sides of the pan with any butter remaining in the pan.
Quickly scrape all of the batter into the hot pan, and place in the oven. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. It will be quite brown on the edges. Allow the bread to cool in the pan, or serve warm.
Heat the olive oil (or oil and butter) over medium heat in a large, heavy, nonstick skillet, and add the onion, apples, and fennel. Cook, stirring often, until they begin to soften, about 7-9 minutes, and add ½ teaspoon salt and the celery. Cook together for another few minutes, until the onion is tender. Add the garlic, and stir together for 30 seconds to a minute, until fragrant. Cook another 10-15 minutes until everything is golden brown with good color. Transfer to a large bowl, and add the remaining ingredients. Combine well. Taste and adjust salt. Moisten as desired with milk.
I stopped here and served as is, but if you wish to continue, the remainder of the recipe goes as follows: Stuff the cavity of the turkey, or transfer to a buttered or oiled 2-quart baking dish. Dot with butter. Cover with aluminum foil, and heat through in a 325-degree oven for 30 minutes. Enjoy!
TIPS
Variation: Sage Cornbread - stir 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh sage or 1 tsp rubbed dried sage into the batter before turning into the pan.
Advance preparation: You can make the cornbread several days ahead and the stuffing a day ahead.
Follow @injoskitchen on Instagram & watch this recipe come to life:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cz_dYvRrlp_/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
