A SPECIAL THANKSGIVING TRADITION… BAKED RICOTTA STUFFING… THAT I MADE, AND YOU CAN TOO!

 

Thanksgiving is all about family, traditions and… FOOD!

The dinner is usually Turkey, Cranberry Sauce, Carrots, Yams, Gravy and for dessert… PIE!  But you cannot not forget… the Stuffing.

There’s all different types of stuffing that use bread, sometimes sausages, sometimes chestnuts.  But in our family, we have a tradition of making a stuffing that’s entirely different.  Today, I’ll tell you about it and even better show you how to make it!

This stuffing has been in my family for more than five generations.  I know that my Great-Great-Grandmother made it, because my Great-Aunt Kitty told us she did (by-the-way, Aunt Kitty doesn’t like stuffing this way, she prefers the bread type stuffing).  My Grandpa, made it with his Mom… my Dad and Uncle Peter made it with my Grandpa… and today, I made it with my Dad! It doesn’t really have a name, other than “Stuffing” so we’ll just call it…

Baked Ricotta Thanksgiving Stuffing

Ingredients

1 Tub of Whole Milk Ricotta (48 Ounce)

6 Eggs

1 Cup and a 1/2 of Chopped Parsley

1 Cup and a 1/4 of Italian Breadcrumbs

1 Cup (maybe a little bit more) of Peccorino Romano Grated Cheese

1 1/4 Cup of Pine (Pignole) Nuts

Black Pepper

Salt

1) Ask an adult to Pre-Heat the oven to 350 degrees

2)  In a large bowl crack six eggs, add a teaspoon of black pepper and a couple of pinches of salt (not too much salt, because the cheese makes it salty enough)

3) Add Ricotta to the Eggs

4) Add Parsley, Bread Crumbs, Pine Nuts and Grated Cheese

And now the fun part… Make sure your hands are really clean!

5) Put your hands in the bowl and start folding it… make sure it’s all mixed well. It’s really fun, because you get your hands all full of the cheese… and it’s really squishy and cold.

6) Grease two regular size loaf pans (8 inch kind) with butter, make sure you spread it really well then…

7) With a wooden spoon gently put the mix into the loaf pans… when you’re done… bang the pan on the counter to get the air out and even it all out 

8) Put it in the oven and let it bake for about an hour… (if it starts to get too brown on top, cover it with tin foil)… 

9) You’ll know when it’s done when you stick a knife in it and it does not come out too wet and it looks like this.

10) Let it set for a while then… dive in!

The Stuffing goes really well with the gravy and the cranberry sauce (if you like one or the other).  The fun part about the recipe, is that you can choose to add a little more of one ingredient like parsley or cheese or the pine nuts so you can be a little creative depending on your taste.

Thanksgiving was my Grandpa’s favorite holiday… and me making the stuffing would have made him really proud of me.  Every family should have at least one tradition on Thanksgiving, whether it’s a family football game or a special dish they can cook together because it’s really a time to be thankful and spend time together.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM SUNDAY DINERS!