This week, my youngest son called me from school and asked me if I could make stuffing...like the one we make for Thanksgiving. It brought a smile to my face because I love when my kids request foods they like. Feedback or ideas on what to cook are always welcome in my kitchen.
So here I was, in my kitchen at 5pm, trying to honor my son's request - but without my traditional ingredients in the house. I had no celery, no cranberries amongst some other ingredients that I usually add to our stuffing.
What I did have though worked so well that the entire family loved the October Stuffing just as much than the Thanksgiving Stuffing. And who's to say that we can only have one traditional recipe anyway!? 😊
Having three men in the house, meat is crucial for dinner. I have one who claims, he likes to eat less meat, but when its on the table, you guessed it, he digs in just like the other two.
So I added some nice pork tenderloins to the stuffing and some veggies.
I rubbed some pepper and salt on the meat, coated it with dijon mustard, diced up some leftover mushrooms (some went into the stuffing), which I added to an oven proof cast iron skillet, and put the meat on top.
Into the oven it went - with the stuffing- ... the result was a delicious, unexpected, and wonderful dinner experience.
Here is what you need:
October Stuffing
two handful of mushrooms - really any will do
stale old baguette or other white bread (about 1 baguette)
1 large onion
2 peeled cloves of garlic
1/2 cup chopped Sage
1 cup chopped Parsley
Pepper and Salt to tast
Nutmeg
Raisins (all I had) or Cranberries (about 1-2 handful)
Pecan or other nuts (walnuts)
Some orange juice (I only had cuties, but it worked)
1 -1.5 cups of Chicken stock (I had some in the freezer, you can use some instant Bouillon if you like)
Butter (about 2 tablespoons for the pan, about 1-2cup melted for the bread into the bowl)
Olive Oil
Dice the stale bread and add it to a large bowl
In a pan saute the mushrooms in some olive oil and butter, when almost done, add the onion and saute until cooked, add garlic (minced).
Toss into the bowl with the bread, add your chicken stock and some more butter (melted), pepper and salt and about 1 teaspoon of nutmeg (ground), the orange juice (1 orange or 2 cuties), chicken stock (only to moisten the mixture, it should not get too soggy), parsley and sage chopped, your raisins or cranberries.
Toss all items well, the bread should be moist and all ingredients well mixed.
Add all of it into an oven safe dish, top with the nuts for extra crunch, cover with aluminum foil, and bake in the oven at 200 C for about 30 minutes, check frequently so it wont burn.
Uncover for the last few minutes to assure the stuffing browns a bit.
For the Meat
2 lbs of pork tenderloin
pepper and salt
Dijon Mustard to coat the meat (amount depends on your liking)
diced mushrooms
2-3 tbsp. of butter
Season meat, coat with dijon mustard. In an oven safe vessel, I used a cast iron skillet, place the mushrooms and add the meat on top. Put bits of butter all over the meat and roast in oven until done (meat thermometer should be at 170C)- oven temperature should be at 230C. Meat should be done in about 30 minutes depening on your oven. I roasted the meat ahead of the stuffing (about 15 minutes), then added the stuffing and lowered the temperature to about 200C so both could cook together and be done at the same time.
Once the meat is done, place it on a platter, top with mushrooms and put skillet on the stove to make a sauce.
For the sauce:
add 1/2 cup of red wine to scrape the remains of the pan off
then add 1.5 cups of heavy or regular cream
and 1 cup of grated parmesan and 1/2 cup of lemon thyme (lemon thyme is amazing in this gravy). Simmer to reduce, season to your liking and then enjoy your meal!
If you made enough for a leftover dinner, count yourself lucky because the gravy tastes even better the next day.
Enjoy!
B
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