Sage and onion stuffing - best ever and gluten free

I made a whole loaf of my Lazy Bread and diced it, bagged it and froze it for my sister to make stuffing for her family meal on Christmas Day.  Having done that I thought I might as well see what it was like as a stuffing ingredient as well.  We are having our family gathering on New Year's day, but the mother-in-law came to lunch today (Boxing Day) so I did the turkey and full works.


I have Lazy Bread in the freezer, sliced and with freezer paper between each slice so I can get it out easily.  I read several recipes and then produced this stuffing, which Tolerant Taster says is the best he has ever had.  This recipe served three with left overs.  Simply scale up as needed.


Ingredients:


four slices of bread, diced
one red onion, chopped finely
half a Bramley apple, chopped finely
sage leaves 
rosemary, chopped finely
water
1 tbsp oil

bread, onion, apple and herbs

My sage bush is leaves without much flavour so I took a handful, but I know that some sage leaves are very strong.  The technique I used allows you to adjust the strength of this flavouring easily.  Put your sage leaves into a cup of water, bring to the boil (I used the microwave) and then leave to steep while you get on with the rest of the preparation.

sauteed onion

Saute the onion until it is soft.  Add the apple and cook briefly.  If you want the apple pieces to be noticeable cut larger and don't precook.


Add the bread to the onion and apple mixture and stir until well mixed.  Now stir in the chopped rosemary if using.  Add the hot sage water, testing the flavour until you have the amount of sage you want.  Use plain water if needed to bring the whole mixture to a moist consistency.


Place in an oiled baking dish and bake in a hot oven for half an hour.  I put it in the oven at the same time as the roast potatoes and parsnips, and they were all golden brown at the same time.

golden stuffing

The stuffing was moist and delicious with a crisp crunchy top.  




Tolerant Taster's view "Warm, roasted, slow-cooked stew sort of flavour.  The bread has done two things, quite a bit softened to a rich paste holding the whole thing together, but also crunchy bits where the bread has toasted and caramelised on top.  A bit like gravy, caramelised onions and bread sauce with all the best bits merged together".