Stuffed

Last night I had a hankering for fried chicken, but I had no interest in actually frying chicken. Luckly I remembered this recipe for a very respectable "oven-fried" chicken, defrosted some leftover Thanksgiving gravy, and made a very nice stuffing following the guidelines in a recent issue of Fine Cooking. Basically, you start by drying (in the oven) any type of bread cubes, sautéing and adding a selection of veggies and optional sausage or bacon, adding seasonings, pouring on a liquid, and then binding with beaten egg. Mix it all in an oiled 9x13" Pyrex pan, cover with foil, and bake at 375° for 30 mintes, then uncover and continue baking for another 20–30 minutes. I used corn bread (about 8 cups of cubes), mild chicken sausage (about 3/4 lb.), onions (about 2.5 cups), celery (about 1 cup), shallots (1), scallions (a small handful), parsley (about 1/2 cup), sage (I didn't have fresh, so I used about 1 tsp dried), chili powder (about 1 tsp), salt (about 1 tsp), pepper (about 1/2 tsp), turkey stock (about 2.5 cups, also left over from Thanksgiving), and 2 eggs. It was outstanding. Unfortunately, I'll probably never be able to recreate it exactly again!