Madison&Mayberry

Chicken & Dressing

There's nothing like chicken and dressing. Instead of stuffing cooked inside the bird, it's a Southern tradition to cook the cornbread-based dressing in a pan, usually with added chicken. Here's a more thorough explanation. I took the traditional chicken and dressing recipe, adding dried cranberries, pecans and bacon. It's so good that there's no need to limit it to just Thanksgiving.

It is time-consuming to make, so prepare it in stages for ease. Bake the cornbread the day before. Cook the chicken while you're chopping vegetables and toasting the pecans and bread. Boil down the chicken broth while the vegs cook. Or, for a much easier version -- use rotisserie chicken and canned chicken broth.

Chicken and Dressing

1 pan of cornbread, cooled and broken into pieces

10 crackers (whatever you have on hand from Saltines to Wheat Thins), crumbled

4 pieces of bread, toasted and cut into bite-sized pieces

1 whole chicken (or for simplicity’s sake – 1 rotisserie chicken)

5 slices bacon

2 onions, chopped

4-5 celery stalks, chopped

2 teaspoons thyme

2 teaspoons sage

1 teaspoon poultry season

½ cup dried cranberries, re-hydrated in warm water

½ cup pecans, toasted

1 egg, beaten

Salt, pepper

Chicken stock, as needed

In stockpot, bring water to a boil. Add a good amount of salt and the chicken. The water should cover the chicken. Depending on the size of the chicken, cook 45 minutes to an hour. Check until the breast meat is fully cooked but tender.

Remove chicken. Continue to let the water boil to reduce the chicken stock. When the chicken is cooled, remove meat from bones and cut into bite-sized pieces. Return chicken carcass to the boiling water to flavor it. (NOTE: If you use a rotisserie chicken, skip this step and use canned chicken broth.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In saucepan, cook bacon. Remove bacon and excess bacon fat -- you'll want about  1 1/2 tablespoons of bacon fat. Add onions and celery. Cook slowly for five to ten minutes until softened. Add thyme, sage and poultry seasoning.

In large bowl, add cornbread, crackers and toasted bread pieces. Add onion and celery mixture, crumbled bacon, toasted pecans, cranberries and cooked chicken. Taste and adjust seasonings. Blend ingredients well. (Sometimes it’s easier to just use your hands to combine the mix.) Add the beaten egg and incorporate.

Taste chicken broth. It should have a nice flavor by now. Add to dressing mixture one ladle at a time until mixed together but not soupy. Save remaining broth in refrigerator.

Place dressing in buttered Pyrex dish. Cover with foil and cook 30 minutes. Remove foil and cook 15 to 20 minutes until toasted on top. I enjoy eating my chicken and dressing with gravy but it's not necessary. When reheating, add more chicken stock to dressing to prevent it from drying out. 

Easy, Excellent Cranberry Sauce

Although I do have a special fondness for the canned cranberry sauce (there's just something about that jelled consistency that appeals to me!), homemade cranberry sauce is easy and so good. Not as simple as buying the can from the supermarket, but pretty close.

It's always a crowd pleaser because 1) people are impressed you made homemade sauce and 2) it tastes so much more flavorable than the canned. This is my favorite way to make it because the citrus-ginger combination is an unexpected twist. When I'm home for the holidays, I have to triple the recipe because it's eaten so quickly.   

Ginger-Orange Cranberry Sauce

1/2 to 1  cup sugar (depending how sweet you like your sauce-- I usually use one cup)

1 cup orange juice

1 -- 12 ounce package fresh cranberries

1 tablespoon grated ginger (I like it very gingery but this amount can be reduced)

Wash cranberries, discarding the bad ones. In saucepot (but off the heat), add sugar, cranberries and ginger. Fill orange juice to cover the cranberries just barely. Turn on heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook until the cranberries burst, around ten minutes. It will still be somewhat soupy at this point but will thicken with refrigeration.

Cool at room temperature and refrigerate. Eat and enjoy!

Ham Soda, Anyone?

Inevitably, my mom and I always have the "What to serve for Christmas dinner?" debate. No meat makes me happier than ham, except bacon perhaps. But my mom isn't a ham fan. My sister, Mariah, refused to eat last year's lamb in that I'm-not-trying-anything-new preteen way of hers. Everyone else enjoyed the lamb. And I am vastly opposed to turkey since we just had it for Thanksgiving. Who wants turkey twice in one month?

I've found the solution, thanks to CNN.com, who recently highlighted a soda manufacturer that offers limited holiday flavored selections:

"The Christmas pack will feature such flavors as Sugar Plum, Christmas Tree, Egg Nog and Christmas Ham. The Hanukkah pack will have Jelly Doughnut, Apple Sauce, Chocolate Coins and Latkes sodas."

So maybe we could have turkey to appease everyone else and ham soda to appease me?? Or we can just douse my piece of turkey with the ham soda ?

As a backup-plan, maybe Slow Braised Pork with Black Grapes and Balsamic? I've made it before and it's excellent. The grapes melt down into the sauce and combine with the tang of the balsamic.

In other holiday recipe news, last week's New York magazine gave some excellent ethnic influenced holiday ideas from Coconut Fried Yams to Potato Gnocchi Gratin. Find the recipes here.