When having roast turkey, one usually would have it with stuffing. Even though I butterfly my turkey and therefore there’s nothing I can stuff my stuffing into, I usually would still make stuffing on the side. So far I haven’t found any stuffing recipe that Rudy actually liked, and dinner wouldn’t be complete without dinner rolls, so I decided to combine the two and make these stuffing-esque dinner rolls, based on the recipe by Serious Eats.
I hit a stumbling block when making this. The store-bought pizza dough I had turned out to be pre-cooked, not raw, and was therefore unusable. I had to make the dough from scratch and lost quite a bit of prep time, but all turned out well in the end. The 9 by 13-inch tray was just slightly too big for the rolls even after they doubled in size, so I think I’ll use my round pie dish next time and let the rolls expand all the way to the edges. Even though the rolls came out a bit too brown this time, Rudy and I really liked the flavor, and I couldn’t stop eating them!
I’ll definitely make this again, and try to get it right.
Pull-apart Stuffing Rolls
Ingredients
4 tablespoons butter, divided- 250 grams chicken and herb sausage (I used Victoria Crest), removed from casings
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 rib celery, finely chopped
- 4 medium cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 4 teaspoons dried sage
- 1/4 cup (about 3 bunches) minced fresh celery leaves
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- All-purpose flour, for dusting
- 450 grams basic pan pizza base
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Direction
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage, and using a potato masher, break up the meat into fine pieces. Cook, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes.
Add the onions, celery, garlic, and sage and cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are softened, about 10 minutes. Add the celery leaves, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer the sausage mixture to a large bowl, and set aside until completely cool.
While the filling cools, make knots. On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough into two even pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll or stretch into 8 x 4 inch strips. With a pizza cutter or knife, cut crosswise into twelve strips. Repeat with the remaining half of dough.
Tie each strip into a knot and transfer to bowl with sausage mixture. Toss and fold with your hands until every knot is thoroughly coated in sausage mixture.
Grease a 9-inch round baking dish with 1 tablespoon butter. Transfer knots to the baking 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.
When ready to bake, adjust oven rack to center position, and preheat oven to 220 degrees C (200 degrees C fan). Unwrap the rolls. Transfer the baking dish to the oven and bake until golden brown and crisp, 15 to 20 minutes.
When rolls are almost ready, melt remaining tablespoon butter. Remove the rolls from oven and immediately brush on butter. Serve with gravy and cranberry sauce on the side.
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