The Fork: Stuffed!

Everyone in our lives has fallen into two camps at this point: The folks who are double-down with a traditional Thanksgiving and the folks who tell us they’re sick of the same-old and are looking to expand. We don’t honestly care enough either way (though we’re grateful for a day off), but we’re still going to push ahead with our November Thanksgiving good-word-writing campaign, this time with a recipe for vegetarian stuffing that even your diehard meat-lovin’ friends will enjoy.

Perhaps you’re a regular reader of SFR’s weekly product. If so, you might recall a little gibe in last week’s 7 Days section about how stuffing is basically wet bread. To a degree, this is true. To another, different degree, folks like it. Either way, put this recipe in your quiver and pull it out if/when you need it. Word? Word.

Meat-Free Stuffing with Cranberries

You’ll Need:

• 6-to-8 cups day-old bread, chopped or cubed or whatever (white or potato are both great)
• Some kind of faux meat (Morning Star breakfast sausage or Beyond breakfast patties would both be great)
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1 onion, chopped or mined (your call; one of those sweet Maui onions would be PERFECT)
• Minced garlic (you can get it pre-minced, but you want roughly 4 cloves worth...or a little more or less depending on how much you like garlic)
• 2 celery stalks, minced
• 1 cup cranberries—like, real cranberries, not the sauce or whatever (wash them first, heathens)
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups veggie broth
• Chopped sage and rosemary (your call how much based on flavor preference)
• Salt and pepper (to taste)

The Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 300.
• Butter up a baking sheet and toss that bread in in, like, one layer, then drip some olive oil allllll over it...salt and pepper, too.
• Bake for 40-ish mins (or until crispy), mixing around every so often.
• Meanwhile, in a skillet on medium-high, chop or crumble the faux meat and stir every so often until it’s kind of browned. This should take about 10 minutes and, when you’re good with that and your bread is all crisped out, set them together in a bowl to the side.
• In that same skillet, heat the butter, onion, celery and garlic, mixing it up semi-regularly so everything doesn’t get all dried out and gross. Once the mix is all aromatic and looks all good, dump the contents in with the bread and faux meat.
• You can let that sit there for a second while, in another bowl, you add the cranberries, egg, veggie broth, rosemary and thyme together and mix lightly together. It might be kinda liquidy, but that’s what you want.
• Grab another pan (think brownie or, like, one of those square Pyrex numbers) and lightly grease it, then up the oven temp to 350 before dropping the bready faux meat mix in. Pour the brothy cranberry mix on top and gently stir it all together until it makes a pretty gross squishy sound.
• Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes, at which point you’ll uncover and bake another 30-35 minutes, or until if looks all crispy and delicious on top.
• Enjoy it.

Play this in the kitchen while you’re making the stuffing and then throw your head back and laugh like a woman eating yogurt or salad in a commercial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVhA_QrLDGg

Also

-After an SFR staffer had their reservation at downtown restaurant El Mesón unexpectedly canceled last minute, we’ve learned the tapas/jazz joint that’s been on Washington Street since 1997 will close. Details are scant for now, but we’re hopeful there will be more information soon. In the meantime, let’s all keep our ears to the ground for job opportunities for the beloved hotspot’s staff—these COVID-19 losses require coming together and being cool.

-We stumbled upon a petition from the folks behind the Taco-miendo Birria food truck where, it seems, the city has chosen to enforce an ordinance pertaining to shade structures and portals. In the petition’s chatter, Taco Miendo owner Chris Garcia says he built the portal to provide shade over a couple picnic tables so customers wouldn’t have to dine in the scorching sun. The city, Garcia says, asked him to remove the structure and he says other food truck owners are facing the same. Apparently Garcia’s had the structure up a long time with no issues whatsoever, and so have others, according to the petition. Decide of this what thou wilt.

-Just a little PSA here: The Farmers Market (the downtown one) finds Santa Fe’s Crumpacker Bakery serving up amazing-looking sweets. Just know that.

-Speaking of bakeries that look amazing, we just learned about Panaderia y Restaurante Eterna Primavera. Like the proverbial eternal spring after which it’s named, too, it looks damn delicious—especially the wide variety of bagels and sweet breads. Don’t give us any bagel guff, either.

-We hear The Club at Las Campanas is looking to hire a bartender, and we bet the tips out there are insane.

-We know you’ll only have one day to get it together for this, but the Santa Fe Indigenous Center is handing out a special harvest feast for Santa Fe area Natives on Friday, Nov. 19 from 10 am-noon. This is yet another generous act in a long line of generous acts from the local nonprofit which has been doing amazing food distro in town throughout the pandemic.

Apropos of nothing, but we thought you should know about the time Ween made music for Pizza Hut. The songs were reportedly rejected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s492PMdIaJs

More Tidbits

-Since we figure a bunch of you will be thawing turkeys soon, here’s a little link to the USDA’s recommended way of doing that thing we said.

-We admit this piece from Food & Wine-dot-com is a little old, but you can never put a timeline on pairing wine with food. That’s an annoyingly roundabout way of saying the piece is about pairing wines with Thanksgiving meals, and we figure it’ll impress the fam.

-With COVID-19 cases on the rise pretty much everywhere (and definitely in New Mexico), you might be wondering if it’s wise to Thanksgiving it up with your horrible family. CNN-dot-com has some answers.

-Speaking of Thanksgiving (which we know we’ve been doing a lot), Popsugar-dot-com has thoughts on making it a holiday that doesn’t deteriorate into one person doing all the things.

-And speaking of holidays, here’s another slightly older piece about how the brunt of keeping holiday traditions (and doing all the work) seems to land squarely on women.

-And since we love Eater-dot-com so much, here’s a little something about how marshmallows straight up do belong in that one Thanksgiving dish. You know the one.

A Totally Scientific Breakdown of The Fork’s Correspondence

In this week’s print edition of SFR, Culture Editor Alex De Vore went to Marquez Deli twice, because it’s just that good! Heads up that we shan’t be around next week, what with the holiday and all. Here’s hoping you have a good time with people and don’t do anything reckless!

Number of Letters Received

27

*So many were auto-replies, but it’s nearing the holidays, so we’re not mad.

Most Helpful Tip of the Week (a barely edited letter from a reader)

“Can’t we just try to get along with the problematic members of our family for one meal?”

*Nope.

Actually Helpful Tip(s)

No tips, per se, but you do love us, so that’s helpful.

*Yes it is

___________________________________________________

Soon to be full of wet bread,

The Fork