Traditional Stuffing (or Dressing)

Tim actually loves to cook.  At Thanksgiving, he is in charge of the dressing (or stuffing).  He has spent many years refining his recipe, and takes great pride in it. (One of ) the secret(s) is slow cooking the veggies till they are all tender and carmelized.

Once, a few years ago, he was making a pan of sautéed onions.  He carefully sliced a mound of onions bigger than Everest, added them to a pan with enough butter to clog a triathlete’s arteries in less time than it takes them to tie their shoes, and then let them cook low and slow on the stove for hours, carefully stirring them every so often, singing them a lullaby and telling them fairytales of how good little onions end up in the most delicious dishes.

As it got closer to dinner, the activity in the kitchen increased with everyone doing their designated jobs: dish washer, dish dryer, dish puterawayer, veggie chopper, veggie washer, sous chef, line chef, test taster, table setter, annoying pain in the neck, head of being underfoot, etc…..

Finally though, the feast was ready and we all carried the various culinary delights to the table.  Tim lovingly prepared a bed of pirogues to accept its blanket of  the perfectly carmelized onions he had babied all afternoon.  Only to find…an empty pan.

He looked, and looked again, but the onions seemed to have mysteriously vanished!

“Where are my onions?” he demanded.

Everyone backed away, looking for the nearest emergency exit, or largest fire extinguisher.

We all shook our heads.  Why would anyone touch his onions?  Did someone have a secret death wish we didn’t know about?  Had they mistaken the date, thinking it was the 4th of July and fireworks were called for?  Had they missed an opportunity to poke an actual tiger and decided this was the next best thing?

As the inquisition and imminent explosion dragged on, my sister-in-law wandered into the room.

“Do you know what happened to my onions?” Tim zeroed in on her like a guided missile on an enemy fighter.

“Onions?” she apparently did not realize how close she was to annihilation. “Do you mean those brown things in the pan?  I thought they were left over from something else so I put them down the disposal. Why?  Did you want them for something?”

And that is why she is banned from our kitchen FOREVER!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 large onion (about 1 cup after processing)
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 large carrot (about 3/4 cup after processing)
• 1 honey nut squash (or some butternut squash, about 2 cups after processing))
• 1/2 sweet potato (about 1 cup after processing)
• 1/2 package of mushrooms (about 8 mushrooms)
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil or “butter”
• 2 cups vegetable broth, divided (1/2 cup and 1 1/2 cups) I use low sodium broth.
• 12 pieces of stale bread (if you are using something like Ezekiel bread alone, it definitely has a strong taste and texture on its own, so I would recommend doubling up on the spices, onion, celery, etc.  You will definitely need more broth as well.  I suggest a mix of Ezekiel and whole wheat for a nicer texture, or just going with a healthy whole wheat from your favorite store. If you can get the Ezekiel sourdough, that is milder too than the multi-grain version.)
• 1/2 cup aquafaba (liquid from a can of chickpeas)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• pepper to taste
• 1  1/2 teaspoons each powdered sage, rosemary and thyme (2 Tablespoons each if using fresh herbs)

**See note at bottom for variation that adds protein

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Put onion, celery, carrot, squash, sweet potato and mushrooms in a food processor and pulse to rice.
3. Saute veggies in oil or butter with 1/2 cup of vegetable broth till tender, about 15 minutes. Add sage, rosemary and thyme and saute for 1 minute till fragrant.
4. While the veggies are cooking, cut the bread into small cubes (about 1/2″).  Put them in a large bowl and pour the veggies over them.  Add the salt and the other 1  1/2 cups of broth and mix well.
5. Also while the veggies are cooking, put the aquafaba in a stand mixer and whip on high till stiff peaks form, about 10 minutes.  After the broth and veggies are mixed, let mixture cool a bit and then add the aquafaba and fold in until completely incorporated.  
6. Put the stuffing into a casserole dish and bake 30-40 minutes until golden brown on top.

Enjoy!

**You can substitute 1/2 cup multi-color quinoa for half of the bread.  Sauce the vegetables for only 5 minutes, add the spices, then add rinsed quinoa plus 2 cups of vegetable broth.  Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes till quinoa is cooked.  Remove form heat and let sit, covered for 5 minutes.  Add quinoa mixture to the bread cubes.  You will not need to add the 1 1/2 cups of broth as the quinoa mixture will be quite moist.  You may need to add a touch more broth, but I wouldn’t do it till after adding the whipped aquafaba.

To bake it inside squash, preheat the oven to 400, cut squash of choice in half and remove seeds.  Brush with a bit of maple syrup and olive oil, place face down on a lined baking sheet and bake for up to 30 minutes (smaller squash will take less time, you want it about 3/4 of the way cooked.  Remove from oven, stuff with uncooked dressing, drop the oven temperature to 350 and cook for 20-30 minutes till stuffing is golden.