As you all know, I’ve been dying to break-in my new All-Clad cookware– so I wasted no time and tried my hand at a new stuffing recipe tonight! We’re hosting an early “friends” Thanksgiving next weekend, and I’ve never made stuffing from scratch before! (gulp) So I figured a trial run was in order. To be honest, I’ve never been much of a “stuffing person.” My dad LOVES the stuff, but I guess I didn’t inherit his stuffing-lovin’ taste buds. 
Hence, my need to experiment!
I’ve been on the lookout for a recipe that’s a little different from the traditional “Stove-Top style” stuffing… and I think I just found a great alternative: Wild Rice and Sausage stuffing. What I love about this recipe is that it is gluten-free, and can easily be turned vegetarian by either omitting the sausage, or using a vegetarian alternative (in which case it may no longer be gluten-free). I chose to use a vegetarian Italian sausage tonight:
I diced up two of those links, then set them aside while I got to work on the rest:
Into my 2-qt. saucepan went 1 cup wild rice, 3 cups water and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and cover to let simmer for 45 minutes:
After that was all set, I toasted a 1/2 cup of pecan pieces in an oven pre-heated to 350 degrees for 5 minutes. Then I forgot to take a picture. Oops!
Next, I got to work on chopping 1 medium yellow onion, 1 medium cooking apple, and 2 stalks of celery. Into my 3-qt. saute pan they went, with 2 tablespoons of olive oil:
Along with 1 tablespoon of ground thyme, 2 cloves of minced garlic, a dash of nutmeg and a teaspoon of sea salt. Cook over medium heat until tender, about 5 minutes or so.
To the veggies I added the chopped vegetarian Italian sausage, and cooked until heated through. Then, came the wild rice and toasted pecans at the end:
Isn’t it pretty? 
I come from a family that NEVER actually stuffs the turkey with stuffing (my mom was terrified of somehow giving us salmonella poisoning!) so I’ve always served the stuffing as a side dish, rather than with the turkey. Of course, I haven’t actually eaten a real turkey in over 5 years, so stuffing a turkey wasn’t really an option for me anyway! Rest assured, this dish stays moist and is perfectly delicious served on its own. The contrasting textures and flavors were a hit to my taste buds! Yum!!
