Heather says:
If you have ever even given cornbread dressing a favorable nod, add this shrimp and andouille sausage recipe to your repertoire right this very moment. Heck, don’t even wait until Thanksgiving or Christmas to give this side dish a try. Yes, you want to double the recipe, it’ll work as an amazing post-Thanksgiving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You’ll have to wrestle your spouse for the leftovers, so you may as well make the effort worth it, right? When doubled, this recipe nearly fills a 6 quart dutch oven.
Oh and in case you’re wondering, this recipe is 100% gluten free.
My good friend Philip took a lot of pictures, so scroll past the recipe to see how this gorgeous recipe comes together. The PrintFriendly feature at the bottom of the post will let you get rid of all the pics and extra text, easy peasy.
: Cornbread Dressing with Shrimp and Andouille Sausage
- 1 recipe sweet cornbread, made the day before
- butter to grease the baking pan
- 1 lb Andouille Sausage
- 1 – 1.5 lbs shrimp, peeled, deveined and cut into 1/2″ pieces
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced (about 1 cup)
- 3 ribs celery, including leaves, chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded & diced
- 2 garlic clove, minced
- 1 bunch green onions, chopped
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper (estimate this)
- a pinch of cayenne (go very light, as the sausage already has some kick)
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1 – 1.5 cups shrimp stock – you can use chicken or turkey stock, if you need to
- Preheat the oven to 350F and butter a 13 x 9 baking dish.
- Heat a large skillet over medium low heat. While it heats, peel the casing from the sausage and crumble it as evenly as possible into the pan. (This part is kind of a pain).
- Brown the sausage. Then transfer to a paper towel. Leave the drippings in the pan. Chop the sausage so the pieces are uniform in size and not too large. The size is somewhat of a personal preference. If you and your family like big chunks, that’s fine.
- Add the chopped celery and onions. Cook for about two minutes, just until the onions begin to soften. Add the bell pepper and garlic.
- Return the sausage to the pan and add the green onions, salt, ground black pepper, cayenne, and shrimp. Stir to mix after each addition and add the shrimp last. Cook until the shrimp has just barely turned pink. The shrimp will finish cooking off the heat and you don’t want to over do it.
- Remove from heat and set aside.
- Grab a large bowl and the cornbread. Tear the cornbread into chunks, it’s going to crumble easily, don’t stress, the egg will bind it back together.
- To the cornbread, add the sausage mixture and the beaten egg. Add 1/2 the shrimp stock. Mix gently.
- Feel the mixture, it should be moist, not soggy. If it is still dry, continue adding the stock a little at a time until there are no dry areas. Remember, we’re NOT making soup.
- Spread the mixture into the buttered dish, cover with foil, and bake for 20 – 30 minutes at 350F. Remove the foil the last few minutes to brown the top.
- If you make this ahead of time, refrigerate it overnight. It will take longer to heat through, more like 45 minutes, but check after 30 to ensure it doesn’t burn or dry out.
Enjoy!
Preparation time: 15 minute(s)
Cooking time:
Number of servings (yield): 8
Thank you for taking the pictures, Philip. Check out his photography site for more.
Submitted to: Tasty Tuesday
Oh my gosh, this looks and sounds wonderful!
I’ve done the recipe three times and it is “lights out!” The first time my wife walked in the house while it was in the oven and said.. “I don’t know what that is, but it had me at the garage!” I use a crayfish sausage that’s hard to find – so I can’t help you there. But here’s something that’s a hit. Try stuffing chickens with this dressing and smoking them on the grill with apple wood! Amazing!
Thank you so much for the feedback, it means a lot. That smoking tip sounds fantastic.