Potato and Bread Stuffing

This stuffing is the stuffing my mom always made and my ex mil always made and through the years it has been the one I always make.   It's simple and it's easy.   A tiny bit different than the usual stuffing, in that it uses potatoes, which makes it a bit heavier, but that's how we like it.



Of course I have made some changed and adaptations to it through the years  . . . making it my own. My mil and mother never really used celery.  I like the extra colour, crunch and flavour of celery.

 

My mother never really cooked hers for that long, it was more or less just heated through  . . .  the onion was always had a bit of a bite, which I do like, but not a of people are that fond of the harshness of raw onion.   She also used torn bread instead of crumbs.  I do sometimes long for hers . . . but somehow mine never ever does taste like hers anyways.  No matter what.  I don't know why that is.



My MIL always cooked hers in the chicken.  I prefer to cook mine in a buttered casserole dish.  That way you get some crispy bits, which I really like.  I dot it with butter which adds more flavour.   This is my stuffing of choice every year.   I love it, I really do.  I am betting you will too.  For a turkey, I double or triple it.   Of course that all depends on how many I have sitting around my table. ☺

  

*Potato and Bread Stuffing*
Makes enough to stuff one large roasting chicken
Printable Recipe

This was my ex mother in law's recipe for stuffing.  I always doubled and tripled the recipe as the stuffing was always my family's favourite part of the meal.  You can use it to stuff a chicken or a small turkey, or you can do as I normally did and bake it in a casserole dish.

2 cups fine dry bread crumbs (245g)
1 1/2 cups mashed potatoes (use no butter or milk) (about 4 large potatoes, peeled, cooked and mashed)
1/4 cup melted butter (60g)
1 small onion, peeled and chopped finely
1 stalk of celery, chopped finely
1 tsp poultry seasoning (see side column for recipe)
1 tsp summer savoury (can use a mix of sage, parsley and marjoram)
salt and black pepper to taste

Place the butter, onion and celery in a plastic container.  Cover with cling film and then cook on high in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes.  Place the mashed potatoes in a bowl.   Stir in the onion/butter mixture and the bread crumbs, along with the poultry seasoning, summer savoury and some salt and pepper.  Taste and adjust as necessary.  You may need more of the herbs or seasoning according to your own individual taste.  The dressing is now done and ready to cook as you wish.

If you wish to, you may use it to stuff a large chicken or a small turkey, cooking as per the instructions for cooking a chicken or turkey.  If you wish to cook it separately then do as follows.

Butter a casserole dish well.  Crumble the stuffing into the casserole.  Spoon a little warm chicken broth over top and dot with butter.  Cover and bake in a moderate oven (160*C/350*F) for 30 to 40 minutes.  You can uncover the last 10 minutes of baking if you want some crunchy bits.

Note - if you are baking it in a buttered casserole dish, dot it with some butter before baking.