Bethany’s Cornbread Dressing

Bethany’s Cornbread Dressing

My dear Nanny Kimble passed away about 20 years ago.  Upon her passing I was relegated as the official "dressin'" maker for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The problem is that my mother and other family folk are seeking a dressing that could only be achieved if Nanny were to pop down from Heaven and whip up a batch herself. A further problem is that even when Nanny made her dressing -God rest her sweet little soul - it was great some years, OK other years and virtually inedible on occasion. Of course the expectation is that I make it as good as Nanny did....when she did it well! SO, I have failed to meet the challenge thus far. I've tried all sorts of recipes, tweaked things, sought out the advice of really old people, added fun things like cranberries and even butternut squash to NO AVAIL! This year...Thanksgiving 2010...let it be known that I have officially nailed down the "Nanny Kimble" dressing! Yay! Here it is so I can't lose it!

I’ve been tweaking this one for several years! I’ve definitely realized that it’s better if you prep it 1-2 days in advance if possible. The flavors meld together much better! 

• Options: bake veggies in the cornbread, run all breads through a food processor
• 1 pint chicken livers
• 2 round pan yellow corn bread
• 1 round pan white corn bread
• 12 rounds toasted French bread (narrow loaf)
• Salt & pepper
• 1-3 teaspoon rubbed sage
• 1 tsp dried poultry seasoning
• 2 packages fresh sage (chopped)
• 3 eggs
• 2 large onions, diced
• 3 stalks celery, thinly chopped
• 1 stick unsalted butter- cut length wise in half, flip and cut length wise again. Then slice. You should now have small cubes of butter
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 6 cups chicken stock (make it with chicken flavored better than bouillon- not pre-canned)
• 2 sprigs rosemary. Chop up the leaves and throw away the stems.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 (have the cornbread already made up per the package directions- use milk not water)
2. Make up 6 cups of stock with better than bouillon.l in a pitcher. I add enough to where the stock tastes like chicken soup.
3. Make up Drain & wash livers. Place in small pot and add enough stock to cover them. Add one pack of chopped up sage leaves. Add chopped rosemary. Add cracked pepper and salt to taste. Bring to a boil then simmer for 20 min.
4. Remove livers from stock. Pull out 2-3 livers and mush them up. Add mushed livers back to the pot and stir. Either eat or discard the rest of livers. Add the liver stock back to the pitcher of chicken stock.
5. Crumble cornbread and toasted French bread into a large bowl. Add pepper, onion, celery, butter cubes, cream of chicken soup, remaining chopped sage, and a few cups of the chicken stock. Stir until well-combined. Taste it. Add poultry seasoning and rubbed sage until it tastes the way you want it. Don’t add too much additional salt because the butter has salt and it’s not melted in yet. Add more stock until its kind of soupy but not liquid. You should be able to stir it with a spoon and it not slosh around. I usually end up using the remainder of the stock. **At this point, you can refrigerate for 1-2 days ahead of time**
6. Do a final taste test then mix in the 3 eggs
7. Pour dressing into a 9x13 baking dish and bake covered for about 30 - 45 minutes. Take off foil and bake another 30/34 min until top is browned and the whole thing jiggles. To test doneness, shake casserole dish lightly. If the center of the dressing moves more than the rest , then the dressing is not cooked through in the center. Continue to bake until the dressing is set throughout.