A classic cornbread dressing made with day old cornbread, traditional sauteed vegetables and seasoned with sage.
Cornbread Sage Dressing with Gravy
Wow y'all! I cannot believe Thanksgiving is just days away now. Where does the time go? Before we know it, Christmas will be here, speaking of which... I put my tree up and started decorating this weekend, which is the earliest ever for me. There were a few reasons for starting a little early this year, and none of them have to do with blogging.
First, well... we moved this year and I wanted to make sure my tree would fit in the new house! I bought one of those Bethlehem Lights {affil link} LED instant-power trees (LOVE!) a couple of Christmases ago, and while it fit fine in the family room where I had a cathedral ceiling, I wasn't sure how it would fit in the new house that has standard height ceilings.
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| It fit, yay! |
Just a quick reminder.... if you aren't interested in the chit chat, info, photos, tips and such on a blog, as always, you'll find the complete recipe text with measurements and instructions, as well as a printable document, a little bit further down the page. Just swipe or scroll down to the bottom of the post!Then there's the cats.
If you happen to be owned by any cats, you already know that when anything "new"" shows up in your house, it must be investigated. In order to not have every single ornament batted to the ground, I have to put my tree up a little at a time so that they get used to it - tree first for a day or three, precious and breakable ornaments at the top next, and last, the unbreakable ones at the bottom.
Once you get started though, it's just a few steps away from the holiday door wreath, the Elf on the Shelf, candles in the windows and the animated Santa on the floor and all bets are off after that, because I am now officially in the mood to decorate!
Major retailers had Christmas out before Halloween this year anyway, and besides, in case you hadn't noticed, the tradition of decorating on or after Thanksgiving seems to be moving up a bit thanks to our crazy, busy lives these days.
So, the holidays are upon us y'all! I'm gonna slip in one quick recipe for a delicious cornbread sage dressing before I kick back to enjoy my own Thanksgiving holiday. I still have much work to do on the cookbook (yes, I have a cookbook finally - look for it in the spring of 2015!), the grandkids are on Thanksgiving break and their parents are home with them, so Paw Paw and I have no children this week. Seems odd actually and The Cajun and I already miss them!
I've already established my position on the silliness of the whole dressing versus stuffing argument, so I won't reiterate that here.
This version is a straight-up cornbread dressing with no bread and that's a little heavier in sage than my usual dressing. I know some folks that put a ton of sage in their dressing, and while I like a taste of sage, I don't like when it's too overpowering.
Still, inevitably, there is going to be people who say "no sage!" as soon as I share this on social media.
Well for y'all, just click on over to my usual dressing for a dressing where the sage can easily be omitted, but this recipe was written for the sage lovers.
I'm skirting on the edge of it here to be honest, but I used rubbed sage, which is fluffy, so it's really not that dramatic. Do not substitute ground sage though or it will be too strong!
I also wanted a little bit of pork flavor too, but didn't have any thawed sausage on hand when I decided to make this, but I always have bacon, so I started off with a bit of bacon before sautéing my veggies down.
I wrote this recipe for 4 to 6 servings using an 11 x 7 inch, 2-1/2 quart pan and went ahead and made a simple gravy since I actually wrote this for "any day" cooking. It's a nice, moist dressing that stands on its own and really needs no gravy, but I happen to like a little bit of gravy on mine.
Double this recipe if you're wanting to give it a run for Thanksgiving.
Here's how to make it.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 11 x 7 inch or a shallow 2 to 2-1/2 quart baking pan; set aside. In a large skillet cook the sausage or bacon just until fat has been rendered. Add the butter to the drippings in the skillet - yes it's a full stick added to fat, don't cry - and melt, adding the onion, bell pepper and celery.
Saute until tender, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly. Add the crumbled cornbread, parsley, sage, poultry seasoning and salt and pepper; toss.
Whisk together the cream soup - yes, cream soup. Southerners love the stuff so again, no crying - just add it and the broth with the eggs, beat and pour over the dressing, tossing to coat.
Dressing should be the consistency of a cooked oatmeal. Pour into prepared baking pan.
Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for about 35 to 40 minutes or until cooked through in the center and golden brown on top. Pass it under the broiler very briefly if you want some crunch to the top.
For more of my favorite holiday recipes, visit my page on Pinterest!
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