Matzo Chicken Stuffing #lastdayThanksgivukkah

I love stuffing, dressing or whatever you call the savory bread pudding. It is always one of the best parts of the Thanksgiving meal and one of the more simple dishes to make…at least in theory. We’ve all had that greasy, oily tasting stuffing. Or maybe the pre-chopped bread cubes were undercooked and dry. 

Honestly I was a little afraid of the latter when making stuffing with the classic Jewish Matzos crackers. 

I used Manischewitz, THE brand for boxed matzo, and luckily found in the West Texas grocery store.  I did find a recipe for homemade matzos which I still may try, but if you are going crush them up for stuffing, it seems a little silly to go through all that work just for the stuffing. But hey….I bet it would be amazing.

I originally planned to post this recipe on Friday, rounding off the week and posting my Thanksgivukkah wrap-up today. Though I decided I wanted to tweak this recipe a little more, making it easier.

On first try I used a recipe from The New Jewish Table by Todd Gray and Ellen Kassoff Gray, which stuffed their bread pudding into Cornish hens or 5 lb. chickens. There were two problems I had with this recipe:

First, they used chicken livers to keep the stuffing from crumbling while remaining moist. I don’t like livers, so I used an egg as many stuffing call for. It’s still Parve, so it’s okay. My problem was they stuffing felt apart and wasn’t as moist as I wanted it to.

Second, all the experts say-DON’T STUFF YOUR TURKEY! Why? Because when you stuff the cavity with the bread pudding, you create a breeding ground for salmonella unless you cook it long enough. Unfortunately doing that will over cook your bird. That’s why those turkeys of the 80’s and 90’s were so dry. 

Instead, I made this stuffing on the stove-top in a medium sauce pan. This was the best solution in my opinion. The stuffing got soft and moist and stayed together instead of crumbling, or falling apart. And of course….no salmonella!

If you really miss oven stuffing, I added an optional step to transfer the stuffing to casserole dish to crisp the top before serving. It is prettier.

While photographing this stuffing, I ran into one problem: It’s hard to make stuffing on a plate look sexy. What do you think of my stuffing?

Matzo Chicken Stuffing

(Inspired by The New Jewish Table by Todd Gray and Ellen Kassoff Gray)

Makes 4-5 servings

Ingredients:

5 matzo crackers, (1 sleeve) crushed unto small pieces

3 celery stalks, chopped into a ¼ inch dice

1 large yellow onion, finely minced

3 garlic cloves, finely minced

2-3 cups chicken broth

¼ cup white wine

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. freshly ground pepper

½ tsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. chopped fresh sage or thyme (not both)

1 tbsp. unsalted butter 

1 tbsp. olive oil

For Parve version: omit butter
Note: If you chose to bake stuffing, you can brush top with one beaten egg yolk with 1 tbsp. water for a golden crust.

Directions:

In a medium pot bring olive oil over medium heat. Begin to sauté onions until translucent. Add garlic, celery, and sprinkle of salt. Sauté until beginning to soften.

Add crushed matzo crackers and coat in mixture. Add 2 cups of broth, white wine, 1/2 tsp. salt, pepper, garlic powder, chosen herb, and butter. Stir and bring mixture to a boil. Cover with lid and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes. If crackers are still hard add more broth, 1/2 cup at a time until stuffing is soft and slightly wet. Adjust seasonings to taste if necessary.

Optional: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Scoop stuffing into a lightly greased casserole dish, drizzle top with olive oil. Bake stuffing until top is crispy and golden brown. This should only take 5-10 minutes so watch stuffing closely due to high temperature. 

Serve with turkey and all the fixings.

Enjoy!

The Cuisiner

The Eight Days of Thanksgivukkah wrap-up coming tomorrow! Stay tuned for lots of ideas for your Thanksgiving and Hanukkah alike!