Cornbread Stuffing – Veggie Version

It’s time for the Thanksgiving 2012 recipe roundup! The best cornbread stuffing I’ve made so far was from a whim 2 years ago. I modified a recipe I had seen by Michael Symon on Food Network. For some reason I had watched him make this in an episode- unusual because I don’t watch him at all but his show happened to be on and my TV still on Food Network. But, what I saw was so intriguing for a stuffing I looked it up online to print his recipe, and used that as my cornbread stuffing inspiration.

The cornbread is one that I made from a mix the day before thanks to Trader Joe’s. When it came to the smoked ham in his recipe I substituted a smoked veggie version, and of course vegetable stock for chicken stock. Meanwhile for the vegetables I replaced his call for red peppers with Thai red chilis (though in less quantity because I did want to keep my stomach lining). I used Thai red chilis because I had them in my herb garden, but you can easily substitute any other diced pepper you would like, or even spicy seasoning instead.

I also changed out the corn because I thought there was enough corn in the cornbread which had kernels already in it. I also used diced carrots, making use of a classic mirepoix as the base then of this stuffing. I’m not a fan of parsley and cilantro, so I went with dill, sage, and rosemary as my seasoning herbs.

The stuffing turned out visually quite pretty, and was even better the next day as a leftover. The “ham” even in the veggie version gave it a hint of smokiness, and the Thai red chilis a bit of extra zing of heat now and then.

Ingredients (serves 6):

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups chopped yellow onions
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup choped carrots
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 package of diced smoked vegetarian ham- I used Tofurky Hickory Smoked flavor deli meat, but Yves or Lightlife could work as well
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons chopped rosemary
• 2 tablespoons chopped sage
• 2 tablespoons dill
• 2 tablespoons of diced Thai chili pepper, but you can use any other pepper but adjust based on the heat you want
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 8 cups cubed and toasted cornbread – I used Trader Joe’s cornbread mix and prepared per directions on the box. I think TJ’s mix is the best mix out there in terms of taste and texture

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Melt butter and sweat the celery, onions, and garlic until tender. Add ham and cook
   over low heat for 2 more minutes. Set aside to slightly cool.
3. Whisk together eggs, stock, cream and herbs and chilis, and season with salt and pepper
   to taste. Combine all items, including cornbread, in a 4 quart pan.
4. Cook covered for 30 minutes. Then uncover and cook for additional 20
   minutes or until crusty on top.
5. Optionally, since when I picked the peppers I had some extra left I also sprinkled a bit more on top before serving the dish to make it look nice- you can do the same with extra herbs also.