Gluten-Free Recipe: Spicy Two-Grain Stuffing

Grandma Bonnie Peters went with a patient to see a doctor. In the waiting room, she picked up a magazine that contained a recipe for stuffing to bake in a Thanksgiving turkey. The receptionist was just going to discard the year-old magazine, so she sent the recipe home with GBP. So we found two more tasters and experimented with our own version.

Stuffings are rich, crumbly, breadlike mixtures. Traditionally they were baked in and around a whole roasted bird or animal carcass. However, it's easier to bake meat and stuffing to perfection if the stuffing is in a separate pan, and some stuffings are rich enough to make good main courses without the meat. This one contains both nuts and chicken, so only for a large crowd would you need to bake the turkey as well.

We made the recipe accessible to more people with special dietary needs by breaking it up. Stuffings were traditionally baked in one pan, sometimes bound together with extra eggs, wine, or batter. If you want to invite people with different dietary needs to one party, why not cook the stuffing components separately and let each diner combine the ones s/he can safely eat. You still have a complete feast here, and, unless you want to stretch it out to feed more than four to six people, there's no need to jam it all back into a baking pan and bind it with eggs.

So here's what we ended up doing:

Ingredients for Spicy Two-Grain Stuffing

About 4 tablespoons corn, canola, olive, and/or peanut oil

Generous 2 cups (we used a half-litre measure) of corn meal. The fresher the meal is, the better. Last week I'd observed that "Virginia's Best" white corn meal was excellent--at this time of year. This week Grandma Bonnie Peters, who grew up in Indiana, observed that Illinois-based "Hodgson's Mill" yellow corn meal tasted just like the meal they used to have ground from home-grown yellow corn.

1 scant teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1-1/2 teaspoons Rumford's baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoons Ener-G Egg Replacer powder

1 litre of water, plus up to 1/4 cup more

1 package Gwaltney Great Dogs, Great Big Dogs, or Great Turkey Dogs. These are made in Virginia, from chicken or turkey as the case may be, and are my default quick'n'easy substitute for any sausage or processed meat in recipes. If you want a salt-free substitute, see the recipe for Turkey Crumbles. Gwaltney Hot Dogs, which are even cheaper because they're made from inferior meat, are not recommended for this or any recipe.

1 box Zatarain's Jambalaya rice mix. This is what most people would call a spicy Cajun dish. You can be more cautious and substitute Mild Jambalaya, or go wild and substitute Dirty Rice. If you want a salt-free substitute, boil up one bag of Success Brown Rice (add just a sprinkle of pepper, sage, rosemary, celery seed, and/or oregano if you like).

1 bell pepper

3 or 4 celery ribs (use the leaves if still attached and bright green)

1 Vidalia onion. If they're not available where you live, substitute the sweetest onion or onions that are available; you need 1-1/2 to 2 cups of chopped onion.

1 bunch scallions

1-2 cups pecans

2-3 tablespoons chopped parsley

Method for Spicy Two-Grain Stuffing

1. Heat the oven to 450. Generously oil an 8" to 9" baking pan. Let the pan warm in the oven.

2. Combine corn meal, salt, baking powder, and soda in a mixing bowl.

3. Measure Egg Replacer powder into your 1/2-litre measure, add a few tablespoons of water, and mix to smooth out any lumps. Then fill the measure with water and add to the meal mixture. Add 2 tablespoons oil.

4. In a saucepan, heat another 1/2 litre of water. Add sliced chicken or turkey Dogs or Turkey Crumbles. Dump in rice mix and stir. When it boils, cover the pan, turn down the heat, and time it for 20 to 25 minutes.

5. Combine liquid and dry ingredients to make batter, pour it into the pan (oil should sizzle), and bake 20 to 25 minutes. You can set one timer for both processes.

6. Pour remaining oil into a skillet. Add a few tablespoons of water to coat the pan. Slice in celery, onion, and scallions. If you like your vegetables limp, heat the skillet while the other ingredients are cooking. If you like them crisp, heat them for only the last five minutes of cooking time. Add nuts to the vegetables while they cook. Add parsley during the last minute.

7. When the timer goes off, remove the rice from heat. Quickly chop in the bell pepper, replace the lid on the pan, and let the temperatures equalize for about five minutes.

8. Remove cornbread from oven.

At this point, if all guests can eat all these ingredients, you can dump everything back into a 9x13 or 10x15" sprayed pan, toss to combine, and bake it all together. You could add eggs or batter, too. We didn't. We set this up as a buffet; the reason for warming the bell pepper in the rice, rather than with the other vegetables is that the vegan taster is allergic to bell peppers.

This is a substantial meal for 4 people, a main dish with more vegetables on the sides for 6-8 people, and if you double the amounts of vegetables and cornbread and bake it in and around a roast turkey, it will extend a large turkey to feed 20-25 people.