Recipe from Lisa and Carmela Conte
Adapted by Julia Moskin
- Total Time
- 1 hour 45 minutes
- Rating
- 4(72)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This is an Italian-American turkey stuffing that was invented in New Jersey by Pietronilla Conte, who emigrated from the Italian region of Molise in the early 20th century. Ms. Conte's granddaughter Lisa shared the recipe (which her mother, Carmela, also prepares) with us. "She must have used a stuffing that she knew in Italy," Lisa Conte said of her grandmother. "And she just looked at the turkey as a larger thing to stuff." The gizzards give the stuffing its depth of flavor (like giblet gravy), but you could leave them out, or substitute an equal amount of livers, or 6 ounces of pancetta or bacon. —Julia Moskin
Featured in: The American Thanksgiving
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Ingredients
Yield:12 to 14 servings
- 5tablespoons olive oil
- 2cups chopped sweet onion (about 1 large onion)
- 8cloves garlic, minced
- 4(10-ounce) boxes frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed dry
- 2cups chopped white mushrooms caps
- Salt and black pepper
- 2pounds well-trimmed chicken or turkey gizzards
- 4large eggs
- 1½cups grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
- 1cup unseasoned bread crumbs
- ½cup chopped parsley
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (14 servings)
263 calories; 13 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 6 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 13 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 3 grams sugars; 24 grams protein; 541 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and sauté, stirring, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and add garlic, spinach and mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until well mixed and heated through, about 5 minutes. Season mixture to taste with salt and pepper; set aside.
Step
2
Finely mince chicken gizzards. (You can do this by hand or in a food processor, but be careful not to overprocess.) Season gizzards all over with salt. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add gizzards and sauté, stirring often, until cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain off any drippings, then stir gizzards into spinach mixture. Let cool to room temperature.
Step
3
Heat oven to 350 degrees. When spinach mixture is cool, add eggs, cheese, bread crumbs and parsley and stir until well combined. Transfer stuffing to a 3-quart casserole dish and bake, covered, 1 hour.
- If you like, about half the stuffing can be loosely stuffed inside the cavity of a 12-pound turkey. Be sure to cook until both the turkey and the stuffing register 165 degrees on a thermometer.
Ratings
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out of 5
72
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Cooking Notes
Denise
My family (also Italian American, from Naples and the Piedmont region) uses a similar stuffing recipe, although we eschew the mushrooms and use ground sausage instead of turkey gizzards. I never knew anyone else who used such a similar recipe!
Stephanie
Similar to Denise's family, my Nonno was from Piedmont and a chef. His recipes used sausage and chestnuts. We thought the "green stuffing" was unique to our family -- who knew it was all over Italy!
Jamie
Does anyone else feel like two pounds of gizzards is an awful lot for one dish? Looking at the handwritten recipe, it says "3 pkgs" which is crossed out and then at the right she has written "use only 2" which to me indicates using two PACKAGES of gizzards (that come out of a turkey)? And if it calls for 2 pounds of an ingredient then says you can "leave it out"—doesn't that seem odd? I feel like the gizzards should be the flavoring, not the major ingredient.
Lisa Rockelli Gordon
My grandmother made this, and we have all tried to re-create it over the years! I halve the recipe, add half a stick of cream cheese, and use chicken broth instead of gizzards, so delicious!
Stephanie
Same! Grandmother from the Piedmont, very similar recipe that we were always told was her ravioli stuffing recipe that she repurposed for Thanksgiving.
Rami
I made 1/2 the recipe using the giblets, neck and back meat from my spatchco*cked Turkey. Did not have mushrooms. Used homemade stale whole wheat sourdough bread to make bread crumbs. Was fantastic. It's nice having a more vegetable based dressing with a little bread instead of a bread based dressing with a little veggie. Will definitely make again.
Sisuanna
Substitute savory Italian sausage for gizzards and mushrooms. Halve the recipe.
Kimberly Werner
I used less spinach & added eggplant, yellow squash & rainbow chard (aka a bunch of vegetables I had in the fridge & wanted to use up.) Roasted the yellow squash, eggplant and onion in the oven and sauted the spinach with the rainbow chard, mushrooms & garlic. Also used more bread crumbs (which were from some rather heavy whole wheat/ rye bread I had made) & less cheese. No gizzards but used the mix to stuff a turkey. Turned out great. Will make it - or something like it - again.
Barbara
I’ve been looking for years for someone else using this recipe my Italian family used to stuff turkey, ravioli, lasagna. We called it “ping”
Joyce
Isn't the difference between stuffing and dressing this: Stuffing is "stuffed" into the bird. Dressing is cooked outside the bird. So, prepared according to these instructions, this is dressing, not stuffing. This seems likely to be too moist to go into the turkey.
Tony Matos
Tried with gizzards. It was god awful. Second time I replaced gizzards with 2lbs Italian fennel sausage and it was spectacular.
Lorraine
My mother was from Brescia & made this stuffing as everyone else I believed we were the only ones.She only used what came with the bird gizzards & heart. She would rinse thoroughly & sauté cool chop add. Lots of fresh grated Parm & fresh sage.Baked in casserole dish.
Lauren
My Sicilian family also has a similar recipe. We use ham and rice in it though. No gizzards. Cheers!
Elisabeth
My Italian family (also from the Piedmont region) do a spinach and sausage stuffing, and it is beloved and famous both within our family and amongst friends! We use italian sausage vs. turkey gizzards and fresh spinach instead of frozen. I've always been partial to our "special" stuffing (just like Stephanie, we thought ours was a family recipe ha!) but will have to try this delicious-sounding version sometime. Salute (cheers!), Italia!
Jamie
Does anyone else feel like two pounds of gizzards is an awful lot for one dish? Looking at the handwritten recipe, it says "3 pkgs" which is crossed out and then at the right she has written "use only 2" which to me indicates using two PACKAGES of gizzards (that come out of a turkey)? And if it calls for 2 pounds of an ingredient then says you can "leave it out"—doesn't that seem odd? I feel like the gizzards should be the flavoring, not the major ingredient.
Nina
I agree with Jamie (thank you for pointing this out!). Also, the handwriting says "gizzerts"—could mean "giblets." Two pounds of gizzards would be forty chickens' worth.
Jamze
I'm just a caveman and "...2 pounds of gizzards..." seemed excessive - recipe looks good otherwise. Cheerio!
Prakash Nadkarni
RE: Gizzards - You can buy frozen chicken gizzards in 1 lb packs in groceries catering to a significant ethnic/ African-American clientele: they're a cheap ($1-1.25/lb) protein source, but typically need pressure cooking to tenderize, if you don't want to mince them. They also need an umami source (e.g., stock, bacon, sausage). The prototypical poor-person's food, Louisiana dirty rice, was originally, and still is, made with chicken giblets (gizzards, livers,hearts).
Candice
My mother and her many sisters made Stuffing with ricotta and parmigiana cheese , eggs and spinach. Her family originated from a small town near Naples. It was delicious. Has anyone heard of this?
John McCutchen
Add oysters with a splash of Pernod for a Rockefeller riff?
Note from someone else
Can this be made the night before and the turkey stuffed the following morning?
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