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By Wolfgang Puck, Tribune Media Services
It's quicker and easier to prepare an unstuffed turkey, and you get moister meat because the bird doesn't have to cook as long.
Without the fuss of packing it into the bird, a dressing is easier to prepare, too, and less hassle to serve. You also get more control over the final flavor and texture of a separately cooked dressing, and the results are healthier because the bread doesn't absorb fat from the turkey.
Now that I've convinced you, I hope, let me share one of my favorite holiday dressings, a traditional recipe featuring fresh oysters, which scholars seem to agree were part of the first Thanksgiving feast at Plymouth in 1621. The shellfish give the bread-based dish a wonderfully sweet, briny flavor and moist consistency. Use only small farmed American or Blue Point oysters, with shells less than 2 inches (5 cm) across; or, if only larger ones are available from your best local seafood source, cut the shucked oyster meat into smaller pieces. Farmed oysters are preferred over wild-caught. (By the way, you can also make a great dressing without oysters at all, just adding some extra sausage meat and mushrooms in their place.)
When I make holiday dressings, I always have to include dried fruit, too, which to me expresses the essence of autumn and winter. My recipe features prunes, dried cherries, and golden raisins, but you could substitute seedless dark raisins, chopped dried apricots, or dates. Fresh baby spinach adds even more color and flavor.
Since I've already mentioned bread, oysters, sausage, mushrooms, dried fruit, and spinach, you may be thinking that my dressing recipe is complicated. In fact, it's very easy to put together. If you like, you can dry the bread cubes in the oven well ahead of time and, after they've cooled, keep them in an airtight container. The actual sauteing and assembly of the ingredients takes only about 20 minutes, and the dressing needs 45 minutes to bake, making it simple to time so it's ready to serve with the main course.
Speaking of which, you'll enjoy the luxurious-tasting results so much that you'll want to serve the dish again soon, maybe with roast pork or chicken -- yet another reason to opt for a dressing over a stuffing!
Serves 8 to 10
Ingredients - Thanksgiving Turkey Oyster Dressing
1 pound good-quality French bread or white bread
1/2 pound unsalted butter
1 pound prewashed organic baby spinach leaves
2 cups chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 ounces button mushrooms, wiped clean, trimmed, and quartered
2 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, wiped clean, trimmed, and cut into 8 pieces each
3 dozen shucked small oysters (see above), juices reserved
1 pound fresh Italian pork sausage, cooked and diced
8 pitted prunes, diced
1/4 pound dried cherries
1/4 pound golden raisins
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cage-free eggs
1/2 cup organic whipping cream
1/2 cup organic milk
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
1 tablespoon minced fresh sage leaves
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary leaves
Preparation - Thanksgiving Turkey Oyster Dressing
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
Trim the crusts from the bread. Cut the bread into 1/2-inch cubes. Spread the cubes on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until dry but not yet browned, 20 to 30 minutes. Set aside.
Raise the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
In a small saucepan or microwave-proof dish, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter. Brush a 2-quart (2-l) casserole or gratin dish with the melted butter and set aside.
In a large saute pan, add another 1 tablespoon of the butter and melt over high heat. Add the spinach and saute just until it has wilted. Drain the spinach, transfer to a bowl, and set aside.
To the same saute pan over medium heat, add the remaining butter. Add the onion and garlic and saute until translucent, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the button and shiitake mushrooms and saute, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Add the oysters, oyster juice, sausage, spinach, dried fruits, and salt and pepper. Cook for 3 minutes more, stirring frequently to combine the ingredients. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Stir in the cream and milk until well blended. Add the parsley, sage, thyme, and rosemary. Add the reserved oyster mixture, bread cubes, and spinach and stir until thoroughly combined. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary, with a little more salt and pepper.
Transfer the mixture to the buttered casserole dish. Bake until the dressing is heated through, puffy, and golden brown on top, about 45 minutes. Serve immediately.
(c) 2008 WOLFGANG PUCK WORLDWIDE, INC. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
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Wolfgang Puck's Kitchen by Wolfgang Puck
The world-renowned chef with an extraordinary passion for food now shares that passion in Wolfgang
Puck's Kitchen. Puck makes great cooking easier than you ever imagined. He reveals how to turn common ingredients into uncommon masterpieces. Each feature includes both an expert tip and an easy recipe-exactly what you need to transform your home cooking from acceptable to delectable. Moves with color photos.
About Wolfgang Puck
Wolfgang Puck, in the eyes of food lovers and experts alike, is one of the most famous chefs in America and arguably the world. He has spawned a culinary empire that includes a fine dining group of 12 internationally acclaimed restaurants in Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Las Vegas, Chicago, San Francisco, Palo Alto, and Maui; an extensive catering & events business with bases in Hollywood and Chicago, famed as official caterer to the Governors Ball following the Oscars; as well as Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, Inc., a corporation that controls, licenses, and franchises the Wolfgang Puck brand in a wide variety of business activities, including casual Wolfgang Puck Cafes, fast-casual Wolfgang Puck Expresses, consumer packaged foods, cookware, book publishing, television, and the Internet.
For the first time, Puck shares his expert, easy-to-master approach to cooking in the newspaper arena through WOLFGANG PUCK?S KITCHEN, a newspaper column syndicated by Tribune Media Services.
The Austrian-born Puck began his formal training at age 14, inspired by his mother, Maria, a hotel chef. He left Europe for America in 1973 at the age of 24, having already worked in the master kitchens of three-star French restaurants. In 1975, Puck moved to Los Angeles, and soon was both chef and part-owner of Ma Maison. It quickly became a magnet for the rich and famous, with Puck as star attraction. Since then, he has changed the way Americans cook and eat by fusing formal French techniques and Asian and California influenced esthetics with the highest quality ingredients.
After the 1981 publication of the first of his five cookbooks, Puck, in partnership with designer Barbara Lazaroff, opened Spago. Located in West Hollywood on the Sunset Strip, it was an instant success and culinary phenomenon from its opening day in 1982. Although the original location closed in 2000, three years after the successful opening of Spago Beverly Hills, Spago Hollywood today is remembered internationally as a legendary haven for entertainment, political and social luminaries.
In 2000, Puck developed his own "Wolfgang Puck" television show, which began airing on the Food Network in January 2001. The show features Puck sharing his cooking expertise with a studio audience who joins him in his kitchen, along with field documentary segments in which he explores the vast and diverse world of food, from farms to artisan workshops to restaurants, and visits with such luminaries as Julia Child, Robert Mondavi and Paul Bocuse. "Wolfgang Puck" was awarded a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Service Show in 2002.
Puck also appears regularly on ABC's "Good Morning America," sharing his latest creations. He has been a guest on a multitude of other shows, including "The Late Show with David Letterman," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "Entertainment Tonight," "ABC News with Peter Jennings," "CBS Evening News with Dan Rather," "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher," "Frasier," and "The Simpsons." In 2001, the A&E Network featured Puck's life on its popular "Biography" series.
Puck and partner Barbara Lazaroff are actively involved in many philanthropic endeavors and charitable organizations, including their own Puck-Lazaroff Charitable Foundation, established in 1982, which supports the annual American Wine & Food Festival to benefit Meals-on-Wheels.
Puck lives in Beverly Hills. He and Barbara Lazaroff have two sons, Cameron and Byron.
(c) 2008 WOLFGANG PUCK WORLDWIDE, INC. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
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