Cornbread, Pecan & Prosciutto Stuffing

Ingredients

Bread

  • ½ loaf brioche, toasted and cut into cubes
  • 1 loaf cornbread, toasted and cut into cubes

Aromatics

  • 4 cloves garlic, sliced
  • 10 shallots, sliced
  • 1 red jalapeno, sliced
  • 1 cup carrots, diced
  • 1 cup parsnips, diced
  • 1 head fennel, sliced
  • 3 ribs celery, diced

Salt & Seasonings

  • 2 sprigs thyme
  • 10 sprigs oregano, leaves removed and chopped
  • salt to taste

Other Ingredients

  • 10 chicken livers
  • milk to soak the chicken livers
  • 1 lb assorted mushrooms, sliced
  • ¼ lb toasted pecans, broken up into pieces
  • ¼ lb prosciutto ham, diced
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • ½ lb unsalted butter

Special Equipment

  • 9" x 13" baking pan

How-to

Prepare the Brioche & Cornbread

  1. The day before you prepare the stuffing, cube and lightly toast brioche and cornbread

Prepare 3 Saute Pans

  1. Have 3 saute pans warming on your stove

Prepare the Chicken Livers

  1. Melt ½ stick of butter in a saute pan, then add the rinsed & dried chicken livers
  2. Add 5 shallots, sliced
  3. Add salt to taste
  4. Add 2 whole sprigs of fresh thyme
  5. Let simmer and cut into little bits with a spoon or a whisk while they cook.  (You can cut them ahead of time with a knife before adding to the pan)
  6. Add 1 cup of dry white wine as chicken livers begin to change color

Prepare the Aromatics (Vegetables)

  1. In the second pan, melt 1 stick of butter
  2. Add 4 cloves of sliced garlic, 5 sliced shallots, 1 sliced red jalapeno
  3. Add 1 cup each of diced carrots and parsnips
  4. Add 1 head of diced fennel and 3 ribs of diced celery
  5. Season with salt to taste

Prepare the Mushrooms

  1. In a third pan, add 1lb of assorted sliced mushrooms
  2. Season with salt to taste

Once all three pans are going, cook the chicken livers, aromatics and mushrooms an additional 5 minutes to (1) soften the vegetables,( 2) cook the mushrooms and (3) reduce the white wine

Assemble & Bake the Stuffing

  1. Preheat oven to 400°
  2. Once vegetables are tender, mushrooms are cooked but still firm and chicken livers have cooked and the wine has reduced, you can begin to assemble the stuffing
  3. In a 9" x 13" baking pan containing the cubed and toasted bread, pour in the mushrooms, aromatics and chicken livers (remove the sprig of thyme)
  4. Add 2½ sticks of butter, sliced and distributed over the top of the ingredients
  5. Add ¼ lb each of toasted pecans and prosciutto ham
  6. Add 10 sprigs of fresh oregano, leaves stripped & chopped
  7. Add ½ gal chicken stock reduction.  (You can also use chicken soup or chicken bouillon)
  8. Mix ingredients well with a spoon.  There will still be some liquid in the bottom of the pan but this will be absorbed as the stuffing bakes
  9. Bake at 400° for 30 minutes until golden brown
  10. Let sit for 1/2 hour to rest and let flavors come together