Let's get ready for Thanksgiving together! Try my Mashed Potato Stuffing Recipe.

This month I’m going to help you get ready for Thanksgiving with some recipes to help you fill the table from the farmers market. Whether you’re hosting or bringing a dish, you have time to practice these until the big day. We all have those traditional dishes that must be present but hopefully there is room for a new dish. 

This week I’m sharing a non-recipe recipe that is a staple at our family feast - Mashed Potato Stuffing, a magical concoction that combines traditional stuffing with mashed potatoes and the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. This is a dish my husband grew up with that his wonderful Mother made. I was told by her that she got the recipe from a fellow teacher friend and it’s an Amish dish. Honestly, I can see that but it really gives savory bread pudding vibes and I can honestly see this as a morphed ethno-American adaptation with Eastern European roots. Either way, it’s delicious and you should try it immediately.  

I’m not giving measurements here, hence why I call it the non-recipe recipe - because honestly you can adapt this to suit two people or twenty. So you start with a stuffing recipe - whatever your favorite one is.  When I make the dish I use a whole grain country loaf of bread, torn into pieces, celery, carrots and onions. You do want to use a little broth to moisten the bread - not soak it, just moisten it. Then you make your mashed potatoes. 

When I make mashed potatoes, I use Yukon or Lehigh Gold, whatever our wonderful farmers are growing for us, and I DO NOT PEEL the potatoes. I wash then, cut them in chunks and here’s the fancy part, I like to cook them in milk and butter - just enough milk to cook them without a lot left in the pot. I know, it’s  tricky business getting the amount right, but trust me, the result is worth it. Or you could just boil them in water if that’s easier and then mash them with melted butter and warm milk. You do want the mashed potatoes on the runny side.

Then, add the mashed potatoes into the stuffing with a beaten egg or two (depending on the amount you are making) and stir until well combined, add it to your baking dish, spread it into the dish with a spatula and make the top smooth.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the amount you are making. A small dish will probably only take 30 minutes and a 13x9” dish will take 45 minutes to an hour. Baking time will also depend on how densely you pack said baking dish. In the end you want the top to be browned. 

Now for some tweaks and upgrades. You could certainly add chopped sausage to this. You could certainly make this with mashed sweet potatoes or pieces of roasted sweet potato added to the stuffing along with sauteed fennel. You’d be gilding the lily if you added some cheese on top towards the end of baking but I wouldn’t be mad at you for doing it. 

Try this dish and tell me it isn’t life changing. Go ahead, I'll wait. Enjoy! See you at the Doylestown Farmers Market until November 21st on South Hamilton Street from 8am to 1pm.