Gluten Free Stuffing...Here I come!!

Happy Sunday Folks!

My friend asked me if I was planning to post a gluten free stuffing recipe before Thanksgiving. Perfect Timing! The night before, I was not letting my husband sleep by thinking out loud of my fabulous stuffing recipe. Yep, that’s what I do nowadays. I try to fall asleep by thinking what combination of foods would make me salivate :)

I knew I wanted to make it with bread and lots of mushrooms. I was and still am crazy about mushrooms and I wanted to make a perfect stuffing with a good variety of mushrooms. I knew I wanted to have thyme and definitely make it with homemade mushroom stock. Many of us think that homemade stock is too complicated and we just don’t have time for it nowadays. Let me tell you - Think Again!

Mushroom stock:

1 medium onion, sliced

1 leek, sliced (not too thick; don’t waste your time, since you will discard everything at the end)

4 garlic cloves

1 oz of dry mushrooms (I use organic mushroom medley, which consists of, if I recall correctly, porcini, cremini, shitake, and chanterelles)

1 teaspoon of salt

Heat the pot to the medium to high heat. Add the veggies to the pot and add some water to make sure the veggies get covered, about 1-2 cups of water. Let it cook for about 15 minutes. While these are cooking, prepare the following vegetables, which will be added later:

½ - 1 teaspoon of peppercorns

10 oz of white mushrooms, sliced (most stores sell mushrooms prepackaged. Those packages usually are 10 oz)

2 carrots

3 thyme springs

3 marjoram or oregano springs

3 sage leaves

2 bay leaves (I have dry bay leaves and that’s what I usually use for stocks and stews)

9 cups of water

After 15 minutes have passed, add all the veggies and let the soon to be stock come to a boil. After that, lower the heat to simmer and let it cook uncovered for 50 min – 1 hour. You will make more stock than you require for the stuffing, but trust me, you will use it during the week for other delish meals. While to stock is coming together, prepare the stuffing:

4 celery stalks, diced

2 shallots, diced

10 oz or more of mushrooms, chopped (I suggest to use variety, such as shitake, cremini, clamshell, and oyster mushrooms)

Substitute of butter (I use soy free earth balance spread)

10 thyme springs

10 sage leaves

Chopped parsley

Add butter to the hot pan and add all of your mushrooms and let them cook for about 10 minutes. Make sure to mix the mushrooms, so they won’t burn. After 10 minutes, add your shallots, celery, and some more spread to the pan. Cook the mixture for 5 more minutes. Add the thyme and sage to the mixture, cook for about 2 more minutes and you are done.

While the mixture is resting, cut about 5 slices of bread to cubes and toast them for about 10 minutes. Keep checking the bread to make sure if it is toasted enough. If it needs more time, do that. The bread should be well toasted and brown on the edges.

Grab a big bowl and add your toasted breadcrumbs, add the mushroom mixture, and add 2 cups of clear stock. If the mixture is still dry, add a little more stock. It should be enough to moisten all the bread. Transfer the mixture to already buttered pan. Add the stuffing to preheated (350 degrees) pan and cook for 40 minutes.Add fresh chopped parsley at the end.

Couple of points to remember:

• Dry mushrooms made all the difference to the stock, so make sure to include those
• To save money on fancy herbs, buy a poultry mixture, which has several herbs in a package, such as sage, oregano, marjoram, thyme
• Use variety of fresh mushrooms for the stuffing and use enough. It makes the stuffing very flavorful and full of mushroom happiness.
• With the leftover stock, use a strainer, and by pressing the veggies, make sure to get the stock from the vegetables. Toss those veggies, since all the goodness went into the stock.Store the stock in the fridge and use it the rest of the week.

Apologies for not having a full dish of the stuffing. It disappeared so quickly, that I didn't get a chance to take a picture the second it was out of the oven. 

As my husband said, the best stuffing he ever had, so make sure to make it!

Enjoy!!