Sausage and Apple Skillet Stuffing

By efriend

BROWNING = FLAVOR AND CRUNCH
For the ultimate crunch, we don’t merely dry the bread; we toast it at high heat. To further develop its crust, we fry the stuffing in butter on the stovetop, without stirring. Then we brush the top with melted butter and put the skillet in a hot oven so the top can develop a similarly bro

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 1 1/2 1/2-inch pounds baguette, curt into 1/2-inch cubes (18 cups)
• 2 1/4 2 1/4 1/4 cups chicken broth
• 1 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 cups apple cider
• 4 4 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 8 8 8 ounces bulk pork sausage
• 8 8 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 2 2 onions, chopped fine
• 2 2 1/4-inch apples, peeled, cored, halved, and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
• 3 3 3 celery ribs, minced
• 1 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme
• 1 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh sage
• 3 3 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3/4 3/4 3/4 teaspoon pepper

Details

Adapted from cookscountry.com

Preparation

Step 1

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Arrange bread evenly on rimmed baking sheet and bake until light golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes, stirring halfway through baking. Let bread cool completely.

2. Whisk broth, cider, and eggs together in large bowl. Stir bread into broth mixture until evenly coated. Set aside, stirring occasionally, to saturate bread.

3. Meanwhile, cook sausage in 12-inch ovensafe nonstick skillet over medium heat, breaking up pieces with spoon, until no longer pink, about 8 minutes. Transfer sausage to bread mixture using slotted spoon; discard fat in skillet and wipe clean with paper towels. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in now-empty skillet over medium heat. Add onions, apples, celery, and salt and cook until browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in thyme, sage, garlic, and pepper and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir onion mixture into bread mixture until combined.

4. Melt 3 tablespoons butter in now-empty skillet over low heat. Add stuffing to skillet, pressing down firmly into even layer with spatula (skillet will be very full). Cook until bottom of stuffing is browned around edges when lifted with spatula, 7 to 10 minutes.

5. Melt remaining 3 tablespoons butter in microwave and brush evenly over top of stuffing. Transfer skillet to oven and bake until center of stuffing is hot and top is golden brown, about 20 minutes, rotating skillet halfway through baking. Let cool for 10 minutes. Serve.