Harris says cornbread dressing is one of his family’s favorite recipes. It’s packed with spicy sausages, apples, onions, celery, and herbs. And the cornbread comes in two packs of canned mix, which as I know from personal experience tends to annoy people.
Wednesday afternoon, having not started an iota of my own vacation prep, I set out to make the Harris vinaigrette. I read his Twitter thread over and over, trying to sniff out all the details. Politicians can be notoriously difficult to extract details, and unfortunately that was sometimes the case here.
I found a few glaring holes in the recipe, most of which was gear and time – not insignificant points. We are not told what to bake the cornbread in or for how long (instructions in the box are not for a double batch). We also don’t know how much oil, in what type of pan, or how long to cook the sausage. No idea how long apples and vegetables cook. There is salt and pepper in the ingredients but not in the steps. Are rosemary, sage and thyme dried? Etc. I tried to fill in the gaps by analyzing the images online. Is this skin on the apple? How could all this food, which is practically overflowing from my pan, fit in a square baking dish? Then I looked at a host of other recipes in our archives.
None of these omissions was a deciding factor. However, they left a little too much room for chance, especially for beginners. Still, the recipe was appealing enough and the source interesting enough to move on. It took about an hour to get together. Nothing was painful in terms of skill, although after blowing through so many bowls, pots, measuring cups and knives, I wondered if Harris or her husband, Doug Emhoff, was in charge of the dishes – and if they could come help me clean. .
As for the end result? Pretty good, and not even by a Georgia margin as thin as a razor! Between apples, onions and cornbread, it is sweet (very good in my book). Spicy sausage provides the right balance to make it work. I will definitely enjoy the leftovers on Thursday.
I am sure the future veep office is loaded with staff responsible for every political detail, but Madam Vice President, if you ever need a recipe editor, I am ready to serve our country.
Scale and get a printable desktop version of the recipe here.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more to grease the pan
- Two (8 1/2 ounce) packages Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
- 2/3 cup whole milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or vegetable oil
- 1 pound of spicy pork sausage, casings removed
- 2 medium white or yellow onions, diced
- 2 medium apples, cored and diced
- 4 celery stalks, diced
- 3/4 cup chicken broth
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 2 teaspoons of dried sage
- 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon of dried rosemary
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Step 1
Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees. Grease a 9 by 13 pan with butter and line with parchment paper, greasing this too, leaving enough overhang on the long sides to serve as a sling later.
2nd step
In a large bowl, whisk together corn muffin mix, milk, and eggs – batter will be slightly lumpy. Scrape the dough into the pan and smooth the top. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a rack (keep the oven on) and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then lift the baking sheet and transfer to a rack to cool completely. Finely crumble the cornbread in a very large bowl.
Step 3
Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with butter.
Step 4
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oil until it sparkles. Add the sausage and cook, breaking up pieces with a wooden spoon or spatula, until no longer pink, 5 to 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the sausage to the bowl with the cornbread crumbs, leaving the fat in the pan.
Step 5
Add the onions, apples and celery to the pan, still over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened but still a little crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer the onion mixture to the bowl with the cornbread crumbs and sausage. Add the broth, melted butter, parsley, sage, thyme and rosemary and mix gently to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Step 6
Transfer the stuffing to the prepared pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, uncovered, until the top is lightly golden and crispy. Serve hot.
Nutritional information
The nutritional analysis is based on 12 servings.
Calories: 380; Total fat: 23 g; Saturated fat: 9 g; Cholesterol: 76 mg; Sodium: 675 mg; Carbohydrates: 35 g; Dietary fiber: 2 g; Sugar: 13 g; Protein: 9 g.
Adapted from a recipe by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Scale and get a printable desktop version of the recipe here.