Apple, Butternut and Sausage Dressing

First week in the new house. Boxes everywhere. We are living out of three of them on the kitchen counter. The living room is livable. Liam's room is livable. Nora's room is approximately eighty percent livable, which means the crib is assembled and the dresser is in the right spot but the books are in piles on the floor. Our room is a mattress on a frame and a lamp on a box. The bathroom is operational. We have what we need. Everything else is a project for the next six months.

The house is teaching us its habits. The front door sticks in the morning if it is cold. The back burner on the stove runs hot. The hall closet has a light that does not turn off unless you fully close the door. The window in Liam's room rattles in the wind. These are the things Margaret Lawler did not tell me at the closing but which I am deducing in real time. I have started a list. I will have this list for thirty years. It will evolve. The rattling window will be replaced. The sticking door will be planed. The light in the closet will be fixed in year two by a handyman named Kenny whom I have not met yet but who I am already sure I will meet. Houses reveal themselves.

Sean went back to school Monday. Liam stayed with me, because his preschool is still in the old neighborhood and we are not starting the Quincy preschool until next week. Liam and I spent three mornings unpacking the kitchen. He handed me items from boxes. He told me what each item was. He asked where each item went. I told him. He put it there. He is a slow but accurate mover. By Thursday afternoon we had a functional kitchen. The spatulas are in a drawer next to the stove. The spices are on a shelf above the range. The pots are in the cabinet under the butcher block. I cooked in my new kitchen for the first time Thursday night. Stew from the freezer, reheated slowly. It was the first food from the stove of this house.

I note this because I think you notice every first in a kitchen. The first time you use a burner. The first time you fill a pot. The first time you stand in front of the sink and look out the window at the yard you did not own six weeks ago. I stood at the sink Thursday night washing two pots and I looked out at the yard and I saw the little white-painted fence and the snow and the street and I cried. Not hard. Not long. Just a release. I had not known I was holding something. I was.

Nora's birthday is next week. Two years old. Two. Impossible and yet true. Her first birthday was in the apartment during the pandemic with one cake on a small table. Her second birthday will be in a house she will not remember moving into but will grow up in. I am doing the cake this weekend -- the vanilla with the buttercream, her color is blue, and I have made peace with not doing a Pinterest cake because Nora does not care. Nora cares about blue and frosting and having it be hers. I can provide all three. I do not have to also do fondant.

The stew I reheated that Thursday night had been made weeks earlier, before the move, on purpose — a small act of mercy I’d done for future-me who I knew would be exhausted and surrounded by boxes. If you want that same feeling of having something warm and already done waiting in your freezer, this Apple, Butternut and Sausage Dressing is the recipe I reach for: it’s hearty and savory and somehow tastes even better reheated slowly, which is exactly how a first meal in a new kitchen should go. Make a big batch, freeze half, and let it be the thing that greets you when the boxes are still everywhere but you finally have a working stove.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 50 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

1 lb mild Italian sausage, casings removed
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and diced
1 tablespoon fresh sage leaves, chopped (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
8 cups day-old bread, cut into 3/4-inch cubes (about 1 loaf)
2 to 2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Prep the bread. Spread bread cubes on a rimmed baking sheet and leave out overnight to dry, or bake at 300°F for 15 minutes until lightly dried. Set aside in a large mixing bowl.
Brown the sausage. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the sausage, breaking it into crumbles, until fully browned, about 7 to 8 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the bread, leaving the drippings in the pan.
Saute the vegetables. Reduce heat to medium. Add 2 tablespoons butter to the skillet. Add onion and celery and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. Add butternut squash and apple and cook, stirring occasionally, until the squash is just tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in sage and thyme.
Combine. Transfer the vegetable mixture to the bread and sausage bowl. Add salt, pepper, and 2 cups of chicken broth. Stir gently to combine. Add the beaten eggs and fold together until evenly moistened. If the mixture seems dry, add the remaining 1/2 cup broth a little at a time.
Bake. Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with the remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Transfer the dressing to the dish and spread evenly. Cover tightly with foil and bake 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15 to 20 minutes until the top is golden and crisp.
To freeze. After step 4, transfer unbaked dressing to a greased freezer-safe baking dish, cover tightly with foil, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bake as directed, adding 10 minutes covered bake time if still cold in the center.
To reheat from frozen (cooked). Cover with foil and warm in a 350°F oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or reheat gently on the back burner of your stove in a heavy-bottomed pot over low heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through.

Nutrition (per serving)

Apple, Butternut and Sausage Dressing — The First Meal Off a New Stove