Any excuse to make stuffing

Thank goodness for Veterans' Day -- a rare and refreshing mid-week day off. Good news: I got to test out another stuffing recipe with my found time. Bad news: I think I am getting sick AGAIN!!! I even have a fever. WTF!? I just got over a sinus and throat infection six weeks ago! Ugh.

On last night's menu: roast chicken with pan gravy; chestnut and dried cranberry stuffing; and steamed asparagus.

I started with a 4.5lb Murray's chicken from the Fairway in Red Hook and I stuffed it with a lemon, thyme, and a head of garlic.

Some butter, a hot oven, and 90 minutes later, I had a roast chicken!

When the chicken was cooked, I made gravy by combining the chicken fat in the roasting pan with some flour, chicken stock (which I made during my last roast chicken adventure), and white wine.

The stuffing recipe came from an old Williams-Sonoma catalog. (If you read them cover to cover, you'll find at least one or two recipes in each catalog.) And it was pretty good - even better tonight, actually.

Here's the recipe:

Chestnut and Cranberry Stuffing

3 cups chicken stock

1 cup dried cranberries

4 tablespoons (that's half a stick!) unsalted butter

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 celery stalk, chopped

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

1/2 lb pork sausage, casings removed (I used sweet italian sausage, I am sure breakfast sausage would also be ok)

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 lb loaf of bread (I used an enormous baguette), cut into 1" pieces and lightly toasted in the oven

2 cups prepared French chestnuts, halved

2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley

salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 2 1/4 - 3 quart baking dish.

2. In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm stock until steam begins to rise. Remove from heat and add cranberries. Set aside.

3. Melt butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add onion, celery, and carrot. Saute, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are tender and translucent (~3 minutes). Add parsley, sage, and thyme, and cook for an additional minute. Remove vegetable-herb mixture from pan and add to bowl. In the same pan, saute the sausage meat, breaking it up while cooking, until browned and cooked through (~10 minutes). Transfer sausage to the bowl with vegetables.

4. In a large bowl, stir egg while slowly pouring in the stock and cranberries. Add toasted bread and stir until well mixed. Let stand, stirring occasionally, until stock is absorbed (~6 minutes). Add vegetables and sausage. Season with salt and pepper and stir well to mix.

5. Transfer stuffing to baking dish and bake until brown and crispy (~45 minutes).

Serves 6-10 (depending on how many other sides you're serving).

I am still leaning toward using the challah, apple, and chestnut recipe I tried last year, which didn't have any sausage. But I will try one more recipe - probably one with cornbread - before I make the final selection.