Corn Bread Sausage-Stuffing

Source: Saveur, November 2000

16 TB butter
3 medium yellow onions, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 head celery, trimmed and finely chopped
1 TB finely chopped fresh rosemary
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 lb. pork sausage, removed from casings
6 cups crumbled corn bread
1/2 parsley, trimmed and finely chopped
1/4 cup bual, malmsey, or other sweet madeira

Preheat oven to 350.

Melt butter in a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-low heat. Add onions, and cook without browning, stirring often, until very soft, about 20 minutes. Add celery and rosemary; then generously season with salt and pepper, and cook for 5 minutes more. Remove from heat, and transfer to a large mixing bowl.

In the same skillet, cook sausage over medium heat, breaking the meat up with a fork, until just cooked through, about 10 minutes. Transfer sausage to onion-celery mixture. Add corn bread, parsley, and madeira, adjust seasonings, and mix well.

Spoon warm stuffing into turkey, truss and bake. Or transfer stuffing to a buttered baking pan, and bake until hot and golden on top, 30-45 minutes.