Our holiday entertaining guest list includes a number of vegetarians. I make every effort to have many Thanksgiving standards in a vegetarian form. In this case, I use homemade challah, cut it into cubes, and then let the bread cubes sit out on the counter for a couple of days to get a little stale. I also use only mushroom stems in this stuffing, just as a matter of economy. The caps are sauteed in butter and dusted with cayenne, then set aside for mushroom gravy, another vegetarian option. —MrsWheelbarrow
No one would ever guess that this is a vegetarian stuffing, and why should it matter? It's rich yet light and teeming with fresh thyme, rosemary, and parsley—a wonderful combination and a dish that everyone at the table will be able to enjoy, vegetarian or not. The most memorable of all is its texture, as the challah soaks up the vegetable broth and melted butter and then puffs up in the oven, creating a stuffing with a thick, crisp top and fluffy, almost pudding-like interior. And yes, we believe the best stuffing result is to use homemade challah, and it's really important not to skip the time it takes to make the bread stale. Two days is ideal, so you can plan ahead of time when making this recipe. The assembled stuffing can hang out on the counter until showtime, and needs about 45 minutes to bake. So a little prep is involved, but this recipe is well worth it. Thanksgiving rolls around only once a year, after all.
We baked it in a large cast-iron skillet because we didn't have right casserole dish. The stuffing didn't suffer a bit; in fact, it looked like something out of Little House on the Prairie. This recipe is pretty versatile, so feel free to experiment with whatever add-ons you like. The rest of it comes together quickly, cooking the vegetables and lots of fresh herbs, then combining those with the soaked bread, more melted butter, and preferably homemade vegetable stock. It's what stuffing dreams are made of when the holidays roll around. —The Editors
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