Description
Cornbread Stuffing with Fennel Bulb, Dried Cranberries, and Toasted Pecans is richly flavored and soul comforting. The perfect addition to your holiday table. This recipe can easily be made a day ahead of baking! Vegetarian and Gluten Free adaptable.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Cornbread
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup medium grind cornmeal
- 1 cup flour
- 1 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 1/4 cup buttermilk (sub yogurt, mixed with 1/2 water or use milk with a teaspoon of vinegar)
- 2 eggs
Stuffing
- Cornbread (from above)
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots
- 1 cup celery, 2-3 ribs chopped small
- 1 cup fennel bulb, 1 medium bulb, chopped small
- 1 tablespoon fresh sage, minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 cup toasted pecans, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1 1/2 – 2 cups chicken stock or vegetable broth
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley
Instructions
Make the Cornbread ( Tip: Do this a day ahead!)
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Place cast iron skillet (or other baking dish) in the oven.
- Whisk together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Remove skillet from oven and put the butter in the hot skillet, stir around until it melts. Pour melted butter into a bowl. Now your skillet is buttered and warm. This will make a nice crust on your cornbread.
- Along with the melted butter, whisk in honey, buttermilk and eggs until completely mixed.
- Pour flour mixture into the wet ingredients and gently mix until just combined.
- Pour cornbread batter into the skillet, and spread out evenly. Bake at 400F for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. It is ok if it overbakes a bit when used in the stuffing.
Make the Stuffing
- Pre-heat oven to 350F
- Cut the cornbread into 1-inch cubes and toast on a sheet pan in the oven for 20 minutes.
- Melt butter in the pan and sauté celery, fennel, shallots, thyme, sage, rosemary, salt and pepper for about 6-8 minutes until softened and fragrant. Add white wine and turn up the heat for 2 minutes more, cooking it off. Turn heat off.
- Whisk the egg with 1 & 1/2 cups of chicken broth.
- In a large bowl gently mix sautéed veggies together with toasted cornbread, pecans, cranberries, parsley and the 1 & 1/2 cups of the egg broth mixture.
- Place in a buttered baking dish, 9 x13 or equivalent, and pour over the remaining 1/2 cup of broth if needed to further moisten.
- Bake covered at 375 F for 30 minutes. Remove the cover and bake for 15 more minutes, until golden and puffed.
Notes
Make stuffing a day or two ahead without baking and refrigerate, take out of the fridge an hour before baking and then bake per instructions.
The cornbread can be made a day or two in advance.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 375
- Sugar: 10.6 g
- Sodium: 464.9 mg
- Fat: 25 g
- Saturated Fat: 11.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 31.7 g
- Fiber: 3.4 g
- Protein: 7 g
- Cholesterol: 91.2 mg