Sourdough Stuffing with Kale and Sherry-Dates
...that just so happens to be vegan (but shh! don't tell)
Hi and happy Thanksgiving week!
It’s no secret that Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday for a long time, maybe going back as far as elementary school, when we traced our hands to draw turkeys on construction paper. I love autumn, I adore the colors of the changing leaves, and I really love any holiday that revolves around a shared meal. But I’ve been surprising myself in recent years, because I’ve fallen hard for a new favorite holiday—Friendsgiving.
Okay, yes, admittedly Friendsgiving isn’t so far off from Thanksgiving, but hear me out. Friendsgiving is unique in that it has no baggage. No traditions that must be followed. No dishes that absolutely need to be part of the meal. No chaotic (and expensive!) holiday travel. The best thing about Friendsgiving is it can be whatever you want it to be.
Want to gather with your best friends for pumpkin pancakes? Wonderful. Prefer to go out for a dim sum feast? Sounds like so much fun! You could cook a porchetta dinner together. Or a Lebanese mezze meal. You could roll out satiny sheets of fresh pasta and make butternut squash ravioli for Friendsgiving. Truly anything goes.
For the past couple of years, we have hosted Friendsgiving on the Sunday before Thanksgiving and invited everyone to bring their favorite side dish (aka Sides-giving) or dessert. We all know those are the best parts of the classic menu! This year was no exception. All are welcome—partners, babies, puppies, in-laws who are in town, the random friend who is crashing on your couch that night—and our house was busting at the seams, in the best, most joyful way.
We cooked two kinds of stuffing. One was pretty traditional with crumbled turkey sausage and sage. The other was vegan stuffing. Did I tell you I’m co-authoring a vegan cookbook right now? (With a celebrity! Maybe I’ll share more about this with paid subscribers in the coming weeks…) I’ve had vegan recipes on my mind, I was curious to try making vegan stuffing, and I wanted to be sure that our vegetarian and vegan friends had something delicious to eat at the party.
Have you ever noticed the very real phenomenon of how, when you label something as vegan, people automatically shy away from it and choose a different thing? The more you call attention to a dish’s veganness, the more unlikely people are to try it. I catch myself totally doing this, too. Generously, I wonder if this happens because those of us who aren’t vegan assume that the vegan dish is for somebody else, and we don’t want to take something that isn’t ours. Less generously, I suspect that most of us have linked vegan with “not-that-tasty” in our minds.
But I am here to tell you that vegan food—at least the kind that is thoughtfully prepared with excellent ingredients and isn’t trying to be anything it’s not—can be fantastic. In the case of this stuffing, you might be surprised that it all gets happily eaten before the non-vegan version does. Or, better yet, I’ll let you see for yourself. November’s recipe of the month is Sourdough Stuffing with Kale and Sherry-Dates (just don’t call it vegan!).
xo,
Maria
Sourdough Stuffing with Kale and Sherry-Dates
Adapted from a brilliant recipe by the brilliant and lovely Suzanne Goin. The photograph above was the only one I snapped before sliding the stuffing into the oven. I meant to take more pics during the party, but it was too much fun.
1 (1-pound/450 g) loaf sourdough bread
7 tablespoons (105 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
3 rosemary sprigs
8 thyme sprigs
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 pound (450 g) lacinato kale, rib stems removed, leaves chopped
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
3/4 cup water
6 dates, pitted and chopped
2 cups (480 ml) vegetable stock
1/4 cup (55 g) margarine
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Cut off the bread crusts and then use your hands to tear the bread into 1-inch (2.5 cm) pieces with irregular, craggy edges. Place the torn bread on a baking sheet, drizzle with 4 tablespoons (60 ml) olive oil, and toss well. Bake, stirring once about halfway through, until the bread pieces are golden brown and crunchy on the outside but still tender in the middle, 12 to 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Swirl in 2 tablespoons olive oil, then add the onions, rosemary, and thyme. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and lots of black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is blonde and light golden, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and the kale leaves. Cook, stirring often, until the kale collapses a little bit and turns a brighter shade of green, about 3 minutes.
Transfer the onion and kale to a large bowl. When the croutons are done baking, add them to the bowl as well. Return the pot to high heat and add the sherry vinegar, water, and dates. Bring to a boil, then use a slotted spoon to transfer the dates to the bowl with the onion and kale. Continue boiling the sherry mixture until it has reduced in volume by half.
Pour in the stock and cook at a rapid boil until again reduced in volume by half. Add the margarine and swirl until melted. Pour this into the bowl and toss well until the croutons and vegetables are mixed and have soaked up all the liquid. Transfer to a baking dish, cover with foil, and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the cover and continue baking until the top of the stuffing is golden brown and crunchy, another 15 minutes or so.