I can hardly believe it’s already November! If you’re like me, you like to plan out your big calorie meal well in advance. Over the years I’ve developed a pretty solid meal plan. This is just one of the many side dishes on the menu. Unfortunately, it’s not one of those simple sides with minimal ingredients. It’s relatively easy but there are just a lot of steps and a lot of ingredients. But it is the Holidays so I always put a little more effort into my cooking this time of year.
Ingredients
Rice
- 1 Cup of Wild Rice
- tsp. of salt or more if needed
- 4 cups of water
Dressing
- 8 tbs of unsalted butter
- 2 Cups chopped yellow onion
- 2 Cups finely chopped fennel bulb
- 1 Tbs Poultry seasoning
- 1 tsp. dried thyme
- 1 tsp. fennel seeds
- 1 lb. white bread cut into cubes then toasted in the oven.
- 1 (15oz) jar of steamed chestnuts
- 3 eggs
- 2 1/5 cups Turkey stock
- 1/2 cup parsley chopped
- 2 tsp. salt
- 1 1/5 pepper
Prepare
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut the bread in cubes and toast in the oven for a few minutes.
Prepare the wild rice. Bring four cups of water and 1 tsp of salt to a boil. Add the rice and cover, reducing the heat to low and cook for 1 hr. and 20 min. Stir occasionally. Drain the rice and set aside.
Chop the fennel, onion add poultry seasons, fennel seeds and thyme. Fry in the butter over medium heat in a large pan until the vegetables are tender. Cool.
In a large bowl add the bread, chestnuts, onion mixture and cooked rice. Whisk an egg in a separate bowl, whisk the stock into the eggs. Then combine the eggs into the bowl with the bread mixture. Add salt, pepper and parsley.
Add the dressing to a well greased baking dish, covering with foil and bake for 1 hour. Uncover and bake an additional 20 minutes until the top is browned.
