Well, pardon me, but nine days after Thanksgiving, Turkey Day food is still on my mind. That, and I don't have much else to write about tonight, so I thought I would share the recipe for the rolls that had my family raving this year. You can file it away for next Thanksgiving. Or, you know, make them now, because rolls are never out of season. And certainly not stuffing-flavored rolls.
For the longest time, my mom's yeast rolls have monopolized the roll market at the Thanksgiving table. And I will say, my mother makes some pretty incredible rolls. But when I saw this recipe on Serious Eats, I knew I had to bookmark it and try it for Thanksgiving. Maybe it was a bad idea to experiment with a new recipe on an already stressful day, but it paid off in the end, and I don't believe there was a single leftover roll at the end of dinner (and I made two dozen!). Let's face it, the best food on Thanksgiving is not turkey, it's the carbs: the rolls and the stuffing. Put the two together, and it's awesome squared. Because this recipe uses pizza dough, imagine pizza crust mixed with stuffing, in the shape of a roll. Can you imagine? Well, believe it.
Here's the recipe. A couple of notes, though. Because I caught wind of my brother balking at the idea of using sausage in the rolls, I decided to omit the sausage in the recipe. Instead, I added two more tablespoons of butter (this recipe is not butter-shy, but hey, it's Thanksgiving) and just a little poultry seasoning for added flavor. It turned out just fine, although if I had my druthers, I'd use sausage. Also, if you want to make your own pizza dough, that's great, but it's not necessary because of the strong flavors. As for me, I was working in a small kitchen with limited time, and I just decided to buy the best pizza dough I could find (which, in my case, could be found at Wegmans). Worked beautifully. So, without further ado:
Ingredients
4 tablespoons butter, divided
8 ounces sage sausage or breakfast sausage, removed from casings
1 small onion, finely chopped (about 3/4 cup)
1 stalk celery, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
4 medium cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup minced fresh sage leaves
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound homemade or store-bought pizza dough
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Procedures
1. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage and mash with stiff whisk or potato masher to break up into fine pieces (largest pieces should be no greater than 1/4-inch). Cook, stirring frequently until only a few bits of pink remain, about 8 minutes. Add onions, celery, garlic, and sage and cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are softened, about 10 minutes. Add parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer contents to a large bowl and set aside until completely cool.
2. While filling cools, make knots. On a lightly floured surface, divide dough into two even pieces. Working one piece at a time, roll or stretch into an oblong strip about 8 inches long and 4 inches wide. With a bench scraper or knife, cut crosswise into 12 strips. Repeat with other half of dough.
3. Tie each strip into a knot and transfer to bowl with sausge mixture. Toss and fold with your hands until every knot is thoroughly coated in mixture. Grease a 9- by 13-inch casserole pan with 1 tablespoon butter. Transfer the knots to the casserole dish in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil, cover tightly with plastic, and set aside until doubled in size, about 4 hours. Alternatively, refrigerate until doubled in size, 12 to 16 hours.
4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 425°F and adjust oven rack to center position. Unwrap rolls. Transfer to oven and bake until golden brown and crisp, 25 to 30 minutes.
5. When rolls are almost ready, melt remaining tablespoon butter in the microwave or stovetop. Remove rolls from oven and immediately brush butter. Serve with gravy and cranberry sauce on the side.
Yes, they're greasy. Yes, that makes them all the more amazing. And yes, they really do taste like stuffing. As for whether or not they're better than my mom's yeast rolls...I really can't say...nor could anybody else on Thanksgiving. I'll just say that you can never have too many rolls on the table.
So, what do you want to kibitz about tonight?
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Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, and interesting videos, as well as links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate. Readers may notice that most who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but newcomers should not feel excluded. We welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.
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