Challah Stuffing with Leeks and Celery

One day, two days or even the night before: You can either spread the challah cubes on a large pan or loosely pile them in the baking dish you’ll use for the final stuffing and leave them to dry anywhere you can find a surface. If you didn’t do this and you need to make the stuffing right now, spread them on a baking sheet and dry them in the oven at 300°F (150°C) until firm but not brown.

The day of, at any point or an hour before you want to serve the stuffing: Preheat an oven to 350°F (180°C). Generously butter a 9-by-13-inch (23-by-33-cm) baking dish; this helps to prevent the stuffing from sticking. Add the challah cubes to the dish.

In a large fry pan over medium heat, pour in 2 Tbs. of the melted butter. Add the celery, leeks, 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper and cook, stirring here and there, until the celery is mostly tender and the leeks are translucent and sweet, about 10 minutes. Add the rosemary, sage and thyme and cook for 1 minute more. Sprinkle the celery mixture over the challah cubes along with the parsley. Use your hands—it’s so much easier this way—to gently disperse the vegetables through the challah, being careful not to let all the vegetables fall through to the bottom.

Add 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper to the broth (although if your broth is very salty, maybe you will want less) and pour it over the challah. Challah is very tender, even when stale, so it doesn’t need soaking time.

Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes, then increase the oven temperature to 425°F (220°C). Remove the foil and drizzle the challah with the remaining 6 Tbs. melted butter; you don’t want to skimp on this. Return the pan to the oven and bake until the top edges of the stuffing are crisped and it’s nicely browned on top, about 15 minutes more.

Serve immediately or reheat when needed at 350°F (180°C) (foil-on because it’s already well browned). Serves 12.

Another way to make this ahead: The day before, you can just bake the stuffing for the foil-on portion and then blast it at the higher heat before you serve it, although if it’s coming from the cold fridge, it may need 20 minutes, not 15.

Note: Should you wish to add [insert whatever stuffing ingredient you wish was here, like sausage or mushrooms], you absolutely can. Deb suggests adding about 2 cups (6 oz./185 g) diced mushrooms, sautéed with the other vegetables. You can also brown up 1/2 lb. (250 g) of sausage and add it with the vegetables.

Recipe courtesy of Deb Perelman, cookbook author and founder of Smitten Kitchen