Pastrami & Rye Stuffing

I realize that now is really not the time for stuffing recipes. It was over 80° today. We went from snow last month to a sweet taste of summer. It feels like LA did last weekend. I spent the day with my sister, splitting brunch [a spring vegetable hash and banana fritters!], shopping [new shoes for Italy!], walking the dog [complete with a an iced Americano with sparkling water!],  a round or two at Sweet Tomatoes. Sometimes a girl needs an all you can eat salad bar. Today was one of those days.

This was a perfect recipe to finish off the majority of a loaf of Russian Rye that my grandma gave me. Buy one, get one free deals are awesome like that. Someone always benefits. Unfortunately, I just haven’t been eating the bread that I normally do [I’ve been eating plenty of Old Dirty Bastard donuts from Voodoo, though]. I knew it would be going bad sooner than later, so why not make a huge batch of stuffing out of it. Man, I’m brilliant sometimes.

Adding pastrami to it made it that much more hearty [hello one plate meal!]. I went light on the broth and butter, so there were plenty of super crunchy pieces of bread in the mix. Rye bread croutons are pretty much awesome. Why don’t you see them more? Apple added little bites of sweet between the salty pastrami and spicy rye. That was all Epicurious‘ idea. Talk about all kinds of things going on in your mouth.

Ingredients

• 1 loaf of rye bread, cut or torn into 1/2″ pieces.
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2-3 stalks of celery, chopped
• 2 apples, chopped [I used Fuji, they were on sale]
• 1 onion, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup broth
• 1/2lb deli pastami, chopped

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Toast bread chunks in two baking sheets in oven until lightly browned, about 15 minutes.
3. Once they’re cool enough to touch, move to a large bowl. Leave the oven on!
4. Cook the caraway seeds in the butter in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
5. Add celery, apples, onion, garlic, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
6. Sauté until vegetables are turning soft and starting to brown, 12 to 15 minutes.
7. Add stock, scraping up any brown bits. Add mixture to bread cubes, incorporate the chopped pastrami, and toss to coat.
8. Pour mixture in a 13×9 baking dish.
9. Bake, uncovered, until stuffing is crisp on top, about 45 minutes. Turn on the broiler in the last few minutes if you want it to be extra toasty.