Cornbread Dressing in plezWorld

Cornbread Dressing Prep

Growing up, my mother always made stuffing in the turkey while cooking it for Thanksgiving. In adulthood, plezWorld has taken to making dressing since I make an awesome roasted brine turkey that is stuffed with aromatics rather than breadcrumbs.

My wife was raised on dressing and as a consequence, I spent a good portion of our marriage perfecting a cornbread dressing that is to her liking: moist, flavorful, and good without gravy. Once again, I've invaded the archives of the Food Network to get some basic direction on the type of cornbread dressing that I would ultimately create.

This old-fashioned cornbread dressing is flavorful, tender and moist. Although, slightly embellished by plezWorld, the ingredients are simple, the flavors blend well, and it's not necessary to slather your plate with gravy.

plezWorld's Cornbread Dressing

The Cornbread:

• 2 ears of yellow corn
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 1 teaspoon chipotle chile pepper powder
  
  
• 2 large eggs
  
• 3 cups corn meal
  
  
• 1 cup yogurt (vanilla or plain)
  
• 1 cup cold water
  
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt the butter and set aside.

Cut the corn kernels from the cob into a small bowl. Dust the kernels with salt and chipotle chile pepper. Mix well.

Beat the eggs in a large bowl until frothy. Add the corn meal, and stir to combine. Add the yogurt, water, and corn mixture. Mix well.

Add melted butter to batter. Stir all ingredients well until the batter reaches a uniform consistency.

Pour the batter into a greased 9x13-inch pan, and bake 30 minutes. The cornbread will begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Make the cornbread a day before you intend to make your dressing. Leave it out, uncovered, overnight.

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The Dressing:

• 1 9x13-inch pan of cornbread, crumbled
  
• 1 bag of seasoned stuffing croutons
  
• 3/4 cup butter (1-1/2 sticks)
  
  
• 1 cup portabello mushrooms, chopped
  
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
  
• 3 large stalks celery, chopped
  
• 1 large onion, chopped (2-1/2 to 3 cups)
  
• 1 large red pepper, diced
  
  
• 1 cup pecans, chopped
  
• 1 cup fresh cranberry
  
  
• 4 cups chicken stock
  
• 3 large eggs, slightly beaten
  
• 4 leaves fresh sage, rubbed
  
• 2 sprigs fresh oregano, rubbed
  
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  
• 2 teaspoons curry powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Crumble the cornbread and croutons into a large mixing bowl.

In a large skillet, melt the butter. Sauté the onion, celery, mushroom, and green pepper in butter over medium heat until onion is transparent. Add minced garlic and continue to saute until garlic sweats.

Combine the sautéed vegetables with the bread crumbs and mix well. Fold in sage, oregano, pecans, and cranberries. Mix well. NOTE: Up to this point, the dressing can be prepared an hour or so in advance.

When you are ready to bake the dressing, add the beaten eggs and chicken stock, and stir. Add rubbed sage and oregano, black pepper, and curry powder. Mix thoroughly.

Pour mixture into well greased large shallow pan and bake for 40 minutes. After baking for 15 minutes, stir dressing in the pan so that it cooks uniformly.

plez sez: prepare your taste buds for a blast of flavor that compliments the turkey and other fixin's.

Happy Holidays from plezWorld to your family!

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Happy Thanksgiving from plezWorld

in plezWorld, this is such a special holiday as it gives me a chance to STOP ...and give thanks for all of the blessings in my life!

...and i thank all of you who have blessed plezWorld for the past 365 days.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

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Roasting Brine Turkey for the Holidays

I have taken on the role of Ye Royal Turkey Roaster for family gatherings at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was not by accident... a few years ago, the Thanksgiving turkey was subjected to my mother-in-law's loving arms. Let's just say the bird wasn't the only one who regretted that choice.

Since that fateful day, I have taken over in ensuring that the center piece of the dinner table is blessed with a plump and juicy roaster that would be the envy of Martha Stewart!

I had some help - while channel surfing a few years ago, I came upon Food Network host Alton Brown using a brine solution to prep a turkey for roasting. Since I always cook a large Christmas dinner for the family, I gave it a shot... and it was a hit. That turkey had the juiciest and tastiest meat I'd ever eaten... and ALL of our guests were lined up to take a plate of it home after dinner.

With the guidance of this simple recipe, I've been putting the best turkey you've ever tasted on the table every Christmas since (and every Thanksgiving for the past 2 years).

Good Eats Roast Turkey
Courtesy of Food Network

Ingredients

• 1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey
  
  For the brine:
  
• 1 cup kosher salt
  
• 1 cup light brown sugar
  
• 1 gallon vegetable stock
  
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
  
• 1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
  
• 1/2 tablespoon whole cloves
  
• 3 tablespoons fresh sliced ginger root
  
• 1 gallon iced water
  
  For the aromatics:
  
• 1 red apple, sliced
  
• 1 large lemon, halved
  
• 1 onion, sliced
  
• 2 cinnamon sticks
  
• 1 cup water
  
  
• 4 sprigs rosemary
  
• 6 leaves sage
  
  
• 2 cups Canola oil

Directions
At least 24 hours before you plan to cook the turkey, combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, and allow enough time to cool the brine solution to room temperature.

At least 12 hours prior to cooking, line a clean 5-gallon bucket with a large plastic trash bag with a tie top. Combine the brine and iced water inside the trash bag. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, tie the bag tightly, and set in cool area (like a basement or refrigerator) until ready to cook. Turn turkey over once, 6 hours into brining.

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A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees. Combine the apple, lemon, onion, cinnamon sticks, and cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes.

Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard brine.

Place bird on roasting rack inside wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird (inside and outside) liberally with canola (or other neutral) oil. Add steeped aromatics to cavity along with rosemary and sage.

Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and cover breast with double layer of aluminum foil, insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F. Set thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting.

Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.

* plezWorld has embellished and perfected this recipe over the years, this recipe is slightly different from the one on the Food Network site.

plez sez: get ready for the tastiest and juiciest turkey you've ever tasted!

...and of course plezWorld has you covered with a cornbread dressing recipe to compliment the world's best roasted turkey.

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Happy Thanksgiving in plezWorld

in plezWorld, this is such a special holiday as it gives me a chance to STOP...

...and give thanks for all of the blessing in my life!

my mother always told me, while growing up, that i should not count my blessings, so i will not list them here.. but know that i carry them all in my heart.

...and i thank all of you who have blessed plezWorld for the past year and a half.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!