RJ's Holiday Stuffing

This stuffing was a Thanksgiving gift from my neighbor RJ. His mom made it and it was THE MOST DELICIOUS STUFFING I HAVE EVER KNOWN. His mother kindly typed up the recipe for me and now I am sharing it with all of you.

Warm, rich, sweet, crunchy, moist and crispy on top it is wonderfully complex and will happily add to your Thanksgiving food coma. You will want to make this stuffing year round for every occasion you can because it is definitely yummy.

As a note, this stuffing can be made with chicken as well, just make sure you buy one with the giblets.

Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 cups of chicken broth (we will make)

1 large onion, coarsely chopped

4 celery stalks, coarsely chopped, also chop the celery leaves

4 TBSP butter

5 FRESH sage leaves, chopped

1 loaf of soft whole bread, cut into 1 inch pieces and dried

1 cup of toasted nuts of your choice (I like walnuts or pecans, you can also toast them)

1 cup of dried cranberries

1/2 cup Italian parsely, chopped

2 eggs

Turkey Giblets (see below)

TO COOK CHICKEN:

Place chicken in a slow cooker or stock pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Simmer until chicken is tender and falling off the bone. About 5 hours on high heat. Make the day before or start early in the morning. If you have a pressure cooker it will take about 1 hour.

Drain off the stock after cooking and pour it through a sieve. Try to remove as much fat as possible from the stock. Pick the meat off of the chicken and discard the bones and skin.

TO COOK THE GIBLETS:

Add giblets to pot/crock pot/pressure cooker and cover with chicken stock. Add in half of an onion, roughly chopped, and 2 stalks of celery, also roughly chopped. Cook until tender, about 5-7 hours or 1 in a pressure cooker. Continually add water as necessary to cover.

Once cooked drain off the chicken stock. Pick the meat off the neck and discard the bones. Add meat and vegetables a side bowl but keep the giblets. Finely chop the remaining giblets and add them to the side bowl. Prepare the stuffing. Continually add water as necessary to cover.

STUFFING:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt butter in a large skillet. Add onions and celery and cook over medium heat until onions are transluscent, about 25 minutes. Add sage and stir to combine, cook another 5 minutes. And 1/2 cup of stock, and stir well. Cook for another 10 minutes.

Transfer onion mixture to a large mixing bowl. Add all remaining ingredients, including the remaining stock to combine.

Place in a sprayed 9X13 baking dish and bake in a 350 degree oven ocvere with foil for 45 minutes. Uncover and let cook another 10 minutes.

Enjoy!!

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