Shelly's Recipe

SAUSAGE AND ROASTED GARLIC STUFFING

Category: Dressing and Stuffing

whole head garlic
Olive oil, dried thyme, dried sage
5 cups fresh breadcrumbs
3 cups cooked rice, cooled
5 tbsp. butter
3 medium carrots, peeled and diced
3 celery stalks, diced
1 large sweet onion, diced
1 medium green pepper, diced
1 1/2 pound smoked kielbasa, chopped
1 tbsp. dried sage
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground pepper
3 cups chicken stock

Roast the garlic ahead of time: Cut the very top part of the head of garlic off with a sharp knife to expose the garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with the thyme and sage over the top. Wrap in foil and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. Cool.

Combine bread and rice in a large bowl. Set aside. Melt 5 tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add carrots and sauté until tender, about 2 minutes, then onion and celery, and sauté 10 more minutes. Add green pepper and sauté another minute. Add this mixture to the bread and rice in the bowl.

Using the same skillet, sauté the sausages over medium heat until they are warmed through---if you use the smoked kielbasa, it's already cooked. If you use a fresh sausage, cook until it's no longer pink. Add the sausage, sage, salt. and pepper to the stuffing mixture. Pour chicken stock, one cup at a time in with the stuffing and mix well. Take the cooled roasted garlic and press down on the cloves to remove the garlic. Add this to the stuffing, and season with salt and pepper. The stuffing should be very moist. If needed you can add more broth.