We eat hundreds of meals every year, yet none is ever more controversial or stressful than the Thanksgiving Feast.
What started out to be a community affair to celebrate perseverance and triumph over impossibly hard conditions in a New World has become a contest of will and culinary prowess.
Is there ever a family that can relax and enjoy this day as it was intended? What with multi-cultural families, blended families, families joined by friends from multi backgrounds, the traditional pleasure has changed to “what time is kick-off” and “my mother never made it that way”. Or the controversy and competition for the new: “I thought I’d try something I saw on the Food Channel”.
While there are as many tried and true ways to cook the turkey as there are families, it’s often the stuffing – called dressing in some families – that garners the most debate. Inside the turkey (stuffing) or out (dressing)? Oysters? Lots of spice and herbs or lightly seasoned? Giblets used or discarded?
In fact, I once asked long-married friends what the secret to their content 67-year marriage might be. The husband, very taciturn and serious, thought for a minute and then said “When I realized her mother’s Thanksgiving dressing was the same as my mother’s, I knew we‘d never fight about that”.
I cannot say I have been without some of these controversies myself. My mother made what the family called “Soupy Dressing” because it was more of a soft pudding, mildly seasoned and served from a huge casserole used only on that day and only for that dish.
When I married, I learned from the in-laws about adding Polish sausage to stuffing, then eventually changed my standard to a Southern influenced cornbread based dressing with sage sausage and lots of spice. Some years more than one type found its way onto the table to avoid stand-offs among the guests.
Whichever style you remember as The Right One, I recommend trying this recipe this year. It has a custard base, lots of crusty bread and plenty of fresh herbs, all baked in a casserole.
The basic recipe allows for creativity and efficiency. You can add giblets or sausage, or tuck in some mushrooms. You can double it to make enough. Make it ahead of time and finish in the last few minutes to cut down on kitchen chaos.
You may want to change the combination of herbs, but if you
serve it up per the exact herbs included in its full name, I guarantee you can expect a chorus of Simon and Garfunkel sing-along – maybe just what every disparate family needs to come together on a stressful day.
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Savory Bread Pudding Serves 8-10, easily doubled
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- ¼ cup finely chopped parsley
1 ½ tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage - 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups milk
- 1 cup grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 3 large eggs
- 2 large egg whites
- 7 cups cubed (1” size) day-old French bread
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8” x 8” bake dish.
Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, sauté 5 minutes until tender, and then add garlic and herbs and sauté 1 minute more. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
In a large bowl, combine salt, milk, ½ cup cheese, pepper, eggs and egg whites. Add the onion/herb mixture then add bread. Stir gently to combine, then let stand 10 minutes.
Spoon into bake dish. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until set and lightly browned.
NOTE: This savory bread pudding can be varied in a number of ways by adding mushrooms, fresh spinach, or cooked sausage. The mixture can be combined in the bake dish and chilled as much as 24 hours ahead of baking, so it is an easy dish to pop into the oven on a very busy day.