Laura's Sausage, Wild Mushroom and Sourdough Stuffing

from www.laurasbestrecipes.com Every Thanksgiving I make this stuffing. It uses the best ingredients from my Wine Country heritage - wine (of course), sourdough bread, fresh herbs and wild mushrooms! It is simple and can be a bit of "chef's delight" as each batch is a little different. I never stuff the turkey as I believe it increases cooking time and really doesn't add to the stuffing's flavor. Additionally, this should always be made on Thanksgiving and not assembled in advance. It's best if it is done just before you intend to serve it. This recipe is more of a guideline - as you should taste as you go to perfect the flavor to your personal; tastes. I guarantee this recipe will not be dry and is loaded with good flavor if you make sure you use all fresh, good quality ingredients.

• Ready In: 2 hrs
• Serves: 15

Ingredients

• 1  lb  sourdough bread, cubed 1/2 inch thick
• 1  lb  bulk boulder pork sausage
• 1⁄8 cup butter (possibly more)
• 1  large yellow onion, chopped
• 3 -5  large celery ribs, chopped
• 3  garlic cloves, minced
• 3⁄4 cup  good quality  chicken stock (not low sodium) or 3⁄4 cup broth (not low sodium)
• 1⁄4 cup dry white wine
• 1 1⁄2 lbs  wild mushrooms, chopped, not too small
• 1⁄2 cup  chopped fresh poultry seasoning (not dried!)
• 1⁄2-3⁄4 cup  chopped fresh parsley
• 2  eggs, beaten until blended

Directions

1. lace bread cubes on a large baking sheet -- toast at 400 degrees until lightly brown (about 12 min) Transfer the bread to an extra large bowl.
2. In a large frying pan over medium heat, cook the sausage until well cooked and crumbled (about 10 min.) Drain fat -- transfer to the large bowl with the bread.
3. Add the butter to the drippings in the pan, reduce the heat to low/medium and melt the butter while scraping the bits of the pan. Add the onion and celery and saute' for 1.5 minutes. Add garlic at the very end until fragrant (about 1 min). Transfer to the bowl with the bread.
4. In the same pan, add some butter and a splash of wine and saute' the mushrooms until juices are rendered. Add to the bread. Add the poultry seasoning, parsley and fold in the eggs until all bread/mixture is well-coated. Dust with salt and petter and pour just a little bit of dry white wine (1/4 cup or less) into the mix and blend. Mixture should be very well blended and moist.
5. Butter a large, deep baking dish (at least 13 x9). Add stuffing mixture to dish and bake covered with foil at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover, stir mixture and bake until the top is lightly crisp (about 30 minutes longer).
6. Happy Thanksgiving!