Sausage Mushroom Pecan bread stuffing

With the amount of sausage and mushroom, and the addition of the stock/butter, this is a little too moist to work well "inside the bird". This version is better suited to cooking on its own. That makes it useful as a dressing for those occasions (like deep frying, smoking, etc) when you don’t have a bird you can stuff.

This gets lots of flavor from an assortment of veggies, sautéed and seasoned before adding to the mix, plus fried sausage and a heaping portion of Vrghr's "Mushroom Medley" (recipe found here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15095763/ ) mixed into the dressing.  Turkey stock (uses this wuffy basic "chicken foot stock found here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15062808/) and butter moisten things and bring even more flavor.

A key to the goodness of this is drizzling the dressing with the butter/stock mixture after baking, as well as adding some before it hits the oven.

Ingredients:
1 loaf cheap white bread (torn or cut into smallish pieces)
2 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, grated
2 Med onions, diced
1 sm pkg (6 oz) sliced pecans
2 Tbs minced Garlic
1 1/2 C Vrghrs Sauted Mushroom Medley (see recipe here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15095763/ )
1/2 lb of ground pork sausage (Italian or Sage flavor recommended)
3/4 stick (6 Tbs) unsalted Butter
2 Tbs Olive Oil
2 tsp + 2 tsp Poultry Seasoning
1 tsp granulated garlic
½ tsp Celery Seeds
1-2 sprigs Fresh Rosemary, leaves stripped from stem and chopped
4-5 medium size fresh Sage leaves, snipped into thin slices
2 tsp Smoked Paprika
1 tsp Omnivore Salt (Found online here: http://www.omnivoresalt.com )

Extra Ingredients to convert Vrghr's Chicken Foot Stock to Turkey Stock
Start with Vrghr's Chicken Foot Stock (recipe here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15062808/) and add
3 turkey drumsticks, or 3 lbs assorted turkey wings, necks, etc.
2 tsp Poultry Seasoning
1 Tbs Better Than Bullion Turkey Base
1 tsp salt

Directions:
For Turkey Stock
To covert Vrghr's "Chicken Foot Stock" recipe (recipe here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15062808/) to Turkey Stock, Vrghr bought 3 turkey drumsticks at the market, sprinkled them with poultry seasoning and some salt, and roasted them in a 375 degree oven 45 minutes. Then added those to the pot of chicken feet and made the stock as written. After straining, Vrghr added 1 Tbs of Better than Bullion Turkey Base to the stock after straining it.
Note: you can also roast ~3 pounds of turkey wings and necks (they'll work better and are cheaper) if you can find them.

Dry/Stale Bread
The bread should be stale or dry, before making the stuffing. You can either cut/tear it a day or two before making the dressing and spread it out on baking sheets, or dry it in a warm oven for a couple hours. This helps keep if all from going completely to mush, and also makes the bread soak up the butter and flavors later.

Make the dressing
In a small sauce pan, melt 4 Tbs butter. Add the smoked paprika, rosemary, half the snipped sage, celery seeds, and 2 tsp poultry seasoning.

Cook over medium head while sautéing the sausage and veggies, until it smells fragrant, and the butter is slightly browned and smells nutty.

Add 1 1/2 C Turkey Stock. If stock is gelatinous, stir frequently until it melts. Reduce heat to low and simmer all together.

In a large skillet, fry the sausage just until most of the pink is gone.

Note: Most sausage these days it pretty lean, so Vrghr needed to add more fat.
Melt 2 Tbs butter and add 2 Tbs Olive Oil.

Add the carrots, onions, celery. Season the veggies with 1 tsp Omnivore Sault, 2 tsp poultry seasoning and half the snipped sage.  Sauté until the celery and carrots are tender and the onions are just starting to turn translucent.

Add the minced garlic and sauté until translucent and slightly browned.  (It seems like a lot of garlic, but cooking it this way makes it nutty and sweet and removes much of the sharp “garlic power”.)

Add in the Mushroom Medley and the package of pecans, and stir to combine. Cook for a minute or two for the flavors to meld.

Put the bread in a very large bowl (or a stock pot works well too).

Pour the sautéed mushroom, sausage and veggies into the bread cubes and toss to combine.

Pour 1/2 of the butter/Turkey Stock mixture over the bread, and toss to combine.

Put the dressing into bread loaf pans and cover with foil.  Can be refrigerated for a day or frozen for a week.

Bake at 400 for about 45 minutes. At the 30 minute point, pour half of the remaining turkey/butter mixture over the stuffing, and replace the foil.

Remove foil, drizzle over the last of the butter/stock mixture, and bake for another 10 minutes to get a crusty top.

Options:
- Use turkey sausage instead of pork sausage (sage flavor is good!).
- Dice in 1 Granny Smith apple and add it while sautéing the veggies.