By request: My gluten-free Christmas stuffing recipe

December is definitely a month that has the spirit of feasting and nibbling on tasty little morsels alike ingrained in its very fiber. In fact, a solid argument could be made that it's the most food filled month of the whole year for many around the world, and there's little exception to that point around our house.

Over the years I've had to radically change they way I eat on account of some of my medical conditions, but no matter how many foods I’ve lost, recipes I’ve had to alter, or dishes I have to pass up, nothing can shake my love of cooking - especially when it comes to the holiday season.

I now make a completely gluten and egg-free Christmas dinner, so that I can eat it more safely, with the same (or a relatively similar) meal showing up earlier in the year on Thanksgiving, too. And speaking of Thanksgiving, last month when I shared the outfit that I wore on Canadian Thanksgiving here, I mentioned the gluten-free holiday meal we'd had at my mother's house, for which I'd brought the stuffing and one of the desserts. A request was then made in the comments by the immensely lovely Jitterbugdoll for my stuffing recipe, and today I'm pleased to share that recipe with you.

Throughout my life I've always been keen on creating my own recipes, and such has continued to be the case in in the face of eating for/around chronic health problems. This particular stuffing recipe is one that I came up with the first Christmas that after I had to go gluten-free, and I really haven't altered it much since then.

I should point out that I've not, to date, tried cooking it inside of a bird. Instead I've cooked it along side (or before or after) the bird in a casserole dish. I have made other gluten-free stuffings inside of chickens and ducks, however, and those recipes have been quite similar, with just a little less liquid used.

By all means use whatever brand of gluten-free bread you like (I use the one I do because it’s egg-free, which is important as I have an egg allergy), or if you happen to have any on hand, use some fairly hearty homemade gluten-free bread. Keeping in mind that you’ll want a somewhat dense, compact bread here to help ensure the finished stuffing is able to hold it’s shape well.

A couple of other things to note are that I personally like a fairly moist stuffing. Indeed, I'd rather my stuffing be too moist than too dry any day of the year, but certainly wouldn't call the finished product here soupy at all. The bread is is not pre-dried, but instead used straight from the package, as it already has a much drier consistency than your average bread that contains gluten. If you wanted to dry it out, say overnight, you certainly could, but I haven't found doing to to be necessary in ensuring this stuffing turns out nicely.

This recipe produces a moist, wonderfully flavourful classic sage and onion stuffing that holds its shape quite well. And lastly, I want to mention that this recipe as it is now doesn't produce a huge volume – I'd say it serves four to six moderately as a side, but you can easily double, triple, etc this recipe as needed (so far I've only needed to double it, but had zero problems with the recipe when I did so).

So with those thoughts in mind, let's jump right into whipping up a batch of the very stuffing that I'll be making in ten days time for my family's holiday feast this year.




Gluten-free, egg-free Christmas Stuffing

Ingredients

-1 loaf Ener-G Tapioca gluten-free bread (I've also, in a pinch, used a six pack of Ener-G Tapicoa gluten-free dinner rolls), or your favourite sturdy gluten-free bread

-1 litre (34 ounces) gluten-free chicken, turkey, or vegetable stock (when cooking for Thanksgiving or Christmas I like to Kitchen Basics gluten-free turkey stock, which I buy at Choices Market in Kelowna)

-1/2 cup (or more if desire) finely chopped white or yellow onion

-1/3 to 1/2 cup dark or golden raisins (optional, but if you're a raisin fan, I highly recommend them)

-1/3 cup olive oil

-1.5 tsp poultry seasoning

-1 tsp ground sage

-1 tbsp dried thyme or 3 tbsps fresh thyme

-1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper (or more to taste)

-1/2 tsp sea or kosher salt

-Olive oil, butter, margarine, or vegan margarine to lightly grease your baking dish with

Directions

Preheat your oven to 400F/200c/gas mark 6.

Over a large mixing bowl, begin tearing (or if you prefer, cutting with kitchen shears) the gluten-free bread into roughly bite sized pieces (don't worry at all about uniformity, they're all getting smooshed together in the end).

Once that's done, stir in the chopped onions, raisins, seasonings, and olive oil. Mix well, coating the bread fairly evenly with the seasonings. Next, begin adding your stock to the stuffing mixture in 1/2 cup increments, stirring well after each addition. Preferring a most stuffing, I usually use 3/4 to 1 full litre of stock, but recommend you let your personal tastes dictate here. At the very least, unless you want an especially dry stuffing, I'd use at least 2/3 of a litre of stock.

When the stuffing mixture has reached your desired moistness level (keep it mind, some of the moisture will evaporate during cooking), lightly grease a nine or ten inch glass or ceramic casserole dish with olive oil, butter or margarine. Pour all of the stuffing mix into the casserole, spreading it out quite evenly, and then press down on it with your hands or a mixing spoon to help compact it. I find this step is important if you want a nice, solid stuffing once it comes out of the oven.

Cover your casserole dish with tin foil and bake for approximately 45 minutes. After that time, remove the foil and check on how nicely browned the top of your stuffing looks. Continue cooking the stuffing for 15 to 20 minutes, or longer if needed, until desired degree of golden brownness appears on the top of the the stuffing and a fork or skewer inserted into it indicates that the stuffing feels firm and the liquid been absorbed by the bread.

Remove from oven and allow to stand for at least ten minutes (I usually give it more like twenty) before serving.

Any leftovers can be stored in the fridge and reheated for up to three days afterwards. I have not, as of yet, tried freezing this stuffing in either its raw or cooked form, so I can't say definitely how well it would hold up in the freezer.




{No matter how big or small your Christmas dinner is going to be, it just wouldn't be the same without a hearty, fragrant bowl of stuffing on the table. So why not don your favourite holiday apron - like this lovely 1950s homemaker - and try your hand at today's delicious gluten-free version? Image via Salty Cotton on Flickr.}



This stuffing, though my own recipe, is based on my mother's classic Christmas dressing, with only minor alterations (aside from the use of GF bread) being made. To me it really is the perfect holiday stuffing and one that I adore slathering with a generous dollop of GF gravy or simply tucking into on its own later in the evening as a midnight snack.

I hope that if you give it a spin, it turns out wonderfully for you (please note that the brand of GF bread you use here may play a roll in how the finished stuffing comes out/tastes), and that it helps to make your gluten-free Christmas feast an even more merry and deliciously festive one.

Happy holiday cooking, everybody!