Family Reunion Chicken and Dressing

I always say don't mess with perfection. But for my husband's family reunion this weekend, I changed things up a little with my chicken and dressing recipe.  I was very pleased.

I cooked four large chicken breasts in the crock pot over night with some homemade chicken stock from the freezer. I thawed the chicken stock and added it to the crock pot on high and put in the chicken breasts. After about 2 hours, I turned the crock pot to low and went to bed!

The next morning the chicken was perfectly cooked and the stock was a beautiful golden color. When you make dressing, a rich stock is essential.

I also changed my cornbread recipe a little. I'm still in shock that I did that, but this time I made three pans of cornbread and used equal parts white and yellow self-rising cornmeal. You will need to make the cornbread the day before to allow it dry out so it can absorb all that delicious stock.

1 cup self-rising white cornmeal

1 cup self-rising yellow cornmeal
2 cups buttermilk

2 T. bacon grease

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  

In a medium mixing bowl, add cornmeal and then slowly stir in buttermilk until it's well blended.  

Put the bacon grease in a cast iron skillet and heat it over medium heat until a drop of the batter sizzles.

Pour the batter into the skillet and bake until golden brown about 20 - 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest in skillet for a few minutes before turning out onto a serving plate.

I made three skillets for this pan of dressing.

When cornbread has cooled (overnight is best) crumble cornbread in a very large (!) bowl.

Dressing ingredients:
2 large onions, chopped
4 ribs of celery, chopped
3 T. butter
3 T. bacon drippings
12 - 14 cups chicken stock
1 T. poultry seasoning
2 t. white pepper
2 t. dried sage
5 eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large skillet, melt butter and bacon drippings over medium heat. Add onions and celery and sprinkle with salt. Stirring occasionally, let vegetables cook until softened 5 - 7 minutes. Remove from heat and add to the cornbread crumbles.

Now begin to add the chicken stock slowly two cups at a time. You want to stir after each addition of stock to allow the cornbread to absorb it slowly.

Add seasonings and taste. Adjust accordingly. You may need some additional salt. Get the seasoning just like you want it before adding the raw eggs.

Slowly mix in the beaten eggs. Shred the cooked chicken and add to the dressing mixture.

Lightly spray with non-stick spray a large aluminum pan or divide up into several 9 x 13 casserole dishes. Cover with foil and let cook for approximately an hour if you're using one large pan. If you're using smaller casserole dishes, begin to check for done-ness at the 45 minute mark. Remove the foil and let dressing brown on top.

Remember everything in the dressing is already cooked except for the eggs. You only want to cook the dressing until it has firmed up and the eggs are done. Be careful not to dry it out too much.