David’s Stuffing

•  2 lb Bread (I like to use sourdough but any firm bread will do.)
• 4 Large Yellow Onions, peeled and chopped (maybe 6 cups?)
• One Bunch Celery, washed and chopped (maybe 3 cups?)
• 1 lb Bacon, cut crosswise into ¼ inch strips
• Butter, for the baking dish and maybe an extra stick if not enough bacon grease renders to cook up the onion and celery properly, which it probably won’t
• Sage, Rosemary, Thyme (beaucoup fresh herbs or 1/3 beaucoup dried ones. How much is a beaucoup, anyway? Maybe about a coup. Or rather, cup–but I mean total, not each.)
• ½ c Piñon nuts (or a few more, if you are flush. Piñon is pretty darned spendy these days, but at least you don’t have to peel ‘em.
• ½ c dried Currants, rehydrated
• 4 Eggs

A couple days ahead, cut the bread into cubes and let it go stale—dried out some, but not hard dry.

In a cook’s pan sauté the bacon until it gives up its grease and starts to crisp, add chopped onion, chopped celery and spices, then cook until the vegetables are soft. If there is not enough oil, add butter–maybe ½ cup. Push the vegetables away from the middle of the pan and brown the piñon a little. Add another pat or two of butter if the bottom of the pan is dry. Watch the piñon closely; it goes from not brown to burned in a heartbeat.

Remove from heat, drain the currants and add them, then transfer the mixture to a big container and fold in the bread cubes. Beat the eggs with some salt and pepper and a little water or stock—anywhere from zero to ½ cup, depending on how dry the bread is—and combine with the bread mixture. I use my hands for this. When this is all mixed up well, you should be able to squeeze a handful of it into a ball that sticks together but is not sopping. If it is too dry, sprinkle with a little more liquid.

Butter a big casserole dish and pack the dressing in. It is ok to mound it up in the middle. I make a smooth top and press some fresh sage leaves in for garnish.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake in a 350° oven for 45 minutes or so, removing the foil for the last ten or fifteen minutes to allow the top to brown a little. The doggone aluminum foil is apt to stick to the garnish and take it off. Be careful to tent the foil high enough over the garnish to prevent that.