Andouille Sausage Dressing

Here is Chef Paul Prudhomme's Andouille Sausage Dressing I intend to make for Thanksgiving this year. I've made it before and love it. It is going to go under the butterflied turkey along with some oyster dressing that Sharon like to make. I copied this recipe from his website. I first make it on 11/20/01 from his cook book, Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen (1984), page 226.

Makes about 12 cups Ingredients

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, in all

2 1/2 lbs Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Andouille Smoked Sausage, ground (8 cups) (See Note)

5 cups chopped onions

3 cups chopped celery

2 1/2 cups chopped green bell peppers

1/4 cup minced garlic

7 tablespoons Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Magic Pepper Sauce®

5 tablespoons Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Meat Magic®

3 cups very fine dry breadcrumbs, unseasoned (preferably French bread)

How to Prepare

• Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a 5-quart pot over high heat.
• When the butter is melted, add the ground andouille. Cook, stirring and scraping the bottom frequently to prevent sticking, until the andouille is beginning to brown and the oil is beginning to render from the andouille, about 6 minutes.
• Add the onions and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are translucent, but not brown, about 5 minutes.
• Add the celery, bell peppers and garlic. Continue to cook, stirring and scraping frequently, until the celery and bell peppers are faded in color, about 4 minutes.
• Add the Magic Pepper Sauce and Meat Magic. Stir and scrape until mixed in well and the brown crust on the bottom of the pot is dissolved.
• Remove the pot from the heat and add the remaining butter. Stir until the butter is melted.
• Fold in the half of the breadcrumbs, using a bottom to top folding motion.
• When mixed in well, fold in the remaining breadcrumbs. Continue to fold until the breadcrumbs are evenly moistened but still somewhat dry and cakey.

• Remove from heat and spread on a sheet pan as thinly as possible.
• Refrigerate sheet pan in the coldest part of the refrigerator until dressing is very cold. (Note: The goal is to chill the dressing as quickly as possible. Spreading the dressing in a thin layer on a sheet pan allows it to cool very quickly. In our refrigerator, this took a little over 1 hour.)

NOTE: If you are not using Andouille, add 1 to 2 more tablespoons Chef Paul Prudhomme's Meat Magic® for a fuller flavor.

Thanksgiving 2009: I used 12 oz of chorizo and three links of cooked andouille sausage sliced because the raw/fresh sausage was not available. Next time we should remember to turn the bread pieces into bread crumbs. Also, cooking under the turkey sounds good but my cheap roasting pan and the high heat over cooked/chard the dressing on the bottom. Safeway was out of the Meat Magic so I used Poultry Magic instead. I also forgot to put the hot sauce in :(.

Here is the morning after breakfast, sausage dressing (hot) with plain yogurt topped with hot sauce. This is now my favorite breakfast!