Turkey Sage Dressing....

This is my favorite, Sage Dressing....it is salty and peppery and bacony and moist, mine has mushrooms (dad's did not)...your family will love you more if you make this for them...I know it is a 'side dish' but for some, me included, it is a main dish. Today, the amount we are making can feed about 20 hungry people. (as a side dish)..remember it is a procedure and there is no real recipe....you go by sight and smell and taste....

Start with a half a pound of lean thick sliced bacon and chopped it up in fairly small pieces....

Put your bacon pieces in a large heavy fry pan and fry on medium heat until it is about half done, and has rendered some of the fat....

while that is frying you can chop your celery and onion...about 1 large onion and a half of a bunch of celery...remember when you are chopping your celery to include the leaves...so much of the flavor is in the leaves, add this to your half cooked bacon....

keep that frying and now start your mushrooms...chop up roughly, 1 pound of large mushrooms...

when the bacon, onion and celery mixture is mostly done add the mushrooms...

stir all this up in the pan and saute for another 2-3 minutes....then add 1 can chicken stock..do not drain the bacon fat out....it is just one day you can handle the extra calories....

and 1 cube of butter....yes 1 cube is not too much, if anything it is not enough...keep this cooking, this is where you would add oysters if you were making oyster stuffing...

get a bag of your favorite seasoned bread cubes...I am partial to the actual cubes, but saw a talk show where Courtney Cox said Pepperidge Farms is the best so I thought 'if it is good enough for Courtney Cox it is good enough for me...'

Put that in your biggest bowl and....have a couple of eggs ready and a can of evaporated milk...

add your whole pan of 'goozpa' (means good stuff)...and stir..

put a well right in the middle of the stuffing....this is where we will add the beaten eggs and can of milk...add that in and mix it all up together.....

We want our stuffing to be 'wet'...the biggest mistake people make is to mix it like you would have it on the table, but as the stuffing cooks is absorbs alot of moisture and really dries the stuffing out....

Now add at least 2 tablespoons of ground sage, 2 tablespoons thyme, and salt and pepper to taste....

Now taste it and see if it tastes like you want to serve it, you can add more salt and pepper or more sage and thyme...

at this point you can stuff the bird and/or place in a casserole and bake no more that 1 hour at 350. With the eggs and milk and moisture it makes it almost custard like, well not really, but kinda...

It is so good, and moist and flavorful....

A plate showstopper !!!!!

Cheers to Happy  !!