Challah Stuffing

 Link: https://smittenkitchen.com/2019/11/challah-stuffing/

• 1.5 pounds challah bread (storebought or 3/4 of one of these), cut into generous 1-inch cubes

• 1/2 cup turkey drippings or melted unsalted butter, plus more for greasing pan

• 2 cups small-diced celery (from about 3 large ribs)

• 2 cups small-diced leeks or yellow onions (from about 2 large leeks or 1 large onion)

• 1 tablespoon each minced fresh rosemary, sage, thyme

• 1/2 cup packed, chopped flat-leaf parsley

• 2 teaspoons kosher salt

• 1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

• 3 cups vegetable, chicken, or turkey broth

One day, two days, or even the night before: You can either spread your challah cubes on a large pan or even loosely pile them in the baking dish you’ll use for the final stuffing and leave them to dry anywhere you can find a surface. Oh you didn’t do this and you need to make the stuffing right now? Spread them on a baking sheet and dry them in the oven at 300°F until firm but not brown.

The day of, at any point, or an hour before you want to serve the stuffing: Heat oven to 350°F. Generously butter a 9×13-inch baking dish. I always forget to do this. Don’t forget. It will absolutely stick if you don’t. Add challah cubes to the dish.

In a large frying pan, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat. Add celery, leeks, half the salt and pepper, and cook, stirring here at there, until the celery is mostly tender and onions are translucent and sweet, about 10 minutes. Add sage, rosemary, and thyme and cook for one minute more. Sprinkle over challah cubes along with parsley. Use your hands — it’s so much easier this way — to gently disperse the vegetables through the challah, being careful not to let all the vegetables fall through to the bottom.

Add remaining salt and pepper to broth (although if your broth is very salty, maybe you will want less) and pour it over the challah. Challah is very tender, even when stale, so it doesn’t need soaking time. Cover pan tightly with foil and bake for 20 minutes, then increase the oven heat to 425°F. Remove the foil and drizzle challah with remaining 6 tablespoons of melted butter, you don’t want to skimp on this. Return the pan to the oven and bake the stuffing for another 15 minutes, until the top edges are crisped and it’s nicely browned on top.

Serve right away or reheat when needed at 350°F (foil-on because it’s already well-browned. Other ways to make this ahead: You can just bake it for the foil-on portion the day before and blast it at the higher heat before you serve it, although if it’s coming from the cold fridge, it may need 20 minutes, not 15.