Porcini Bread Stuffing

chia's Note:

from todays NY Times, this is meatless and is easy to prepare. the porcinis and cognac give it a rich flavor. this is perfect if you prefer to cook your stuffing outside the bird, as i do.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 40 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 5 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup dried porcini mushrooms or 1 cup morel
• 1 cup calvados or 1 cup cognac
• 3 onions, thinly sliced
• salt and black pepper
• 10 -12 cups torn sourdough bread (1 large loaf)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped sage
• 1 cup applesauce
• 3/8 cup raisins or 3/8 cup dried cherries
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or 1/2 cup pecans
• 1 -2 cup vegetable stock

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees, and butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
2. Soak mushrooms in 2 cups warm water about 30 minutes.
3. Drain, reserving liquid.
4. Thickly slice mushrooms.
5. Meanwhile simmer Calvados in a saucepan until reduced to about 5 ounces.
6. Melt remaining butter in large pan, add onions, and sauté until transparent.
7. Sprinkle with salt if onions are browning too fast.
8. Add sliced mushrooms, and sauté 2 minutes.
9. Add bread, mushroom liquid, chopped parsley, rosemary and sage.
10. Stir in reduced Calvados, applesauce, raisins, nuts and enough stock so mixture is moist but not wet.
11. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
12. Turn into buttered baking dish.
13. Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour, until firm and crusty.

Reviews

[VegSocialWorker]

This turned out great. Made it for Thanksgiving and everyone liked it. It was actually the first "left-over" to be finished off over the weekend. Before I put it in the oven, hubby was worried that there was too many onions but he quickly changed his mind when he tasted it (I was never worried- love onions). I used a pack of mixed dried mushrooms, and it worked out great. Did not need any of the vegetable stock as it was plenty wet and did not dry out while baking. I loved the slight apple taste from the applesauce and calvados and it went great with the mushrooms and herbs. Thank you for this recipe, we'll be making this again!