Chestnut Sausage Dressing – Vegan

Nana’s time-tested masterpiece, veganized

 
Ingredients:

• Chestnuts, roasted, removed from their shells and chopped – 2 cups, or about 1 pound
• Gimme Lean Sausage, fried – 1 pound
  Bread Cubes (stale preferred, previously frozen is fine) – 6 cups
• Margarine – ¼ cup (half a stick)
• Onion, diced – 1 cup
• Celery, diced – 1 cup
• Vegetable Stock – 1 1/2 cup (I use vegan chicken base or boullion)
• Poultry Seasoning – 1 tablespoon

 
 
Directions:

• Prepare chestnuts by roasting, removing the nut from its shell, and chopping.
• In a large pot sauté onion and celery in margarine.
• Add stale bread cubes and toss.
• Combine poultry seasoning with stock and drizzle over bread, tossing to moisten.
• Fry sausage in separate pan.
• Fold in fried sausage and pre-cooked chestnuts. Do not over-stir. What you don’t want is a big glob of dough.
• Taste and adjust seasoning. Resist the urge to add more stock as much as humanely possible.
• Place in a greased casserole and cover.
• Bake at 375 degrees, covered, for 30 minutes.
• Uncover and bake for another 15 minutes.

Thanksgiving Tofurky roast with Chestnut Sausage Dressing

Notes

• Best to do the chestnuts and bread cubes ahead, especially if assembling this on Thanksgiving morning. You can also chop the onion and celery ahead, and fry the sausage. Heck, you can make the whole casserole several days before the big day and just slip it into the oven like a pro. Last-minute stress adds no flavor to a fine dish.
• To roast chestnuts, score each nut with a sharp knife (this is the dangerous part!), place in a flat pan, and bake, covered, at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. I do not bother soaking the nuts or double scoring with an X. At 30 minutes, test one nut for doneness. Toss the other nuts around in the pan if returning to the oven. The chestnuts will be done when the shell peels back revealing the starchy golden nut and the nut is mealy, but not mushy. Remove from shell when warm, before the membrane no longer pulls away from the nut easily. Keep them in a covered pot to continue steaming as you peel. After peeling, you can freeze them in case harvest comes well ahead of Thanksgiving. I recommend buying 2 pounds so you can enjoy some while peeling and setting aside your 2 cups.
• If using fresh bread, cut bread into cubes, lay on a cookie sheet and bake at 200 degrees until the cubes firm up – half an hour to an hour.
• I do not recommend substituting corn bread for wheat bread.