Lunch: Sausage, Pear and Parsnip Stuffing

Ingredients

1 1-pound loaf unsliced egg bread, crust trimmed, bread cut into 1/2- to 3/4-inch cubes (about 12 cups)
2 cups 1/4-inch cubes peeled parsnips (about 5 medium)
1 pound breakfast-style bulk sausage
6 tablespoons (about) unsalted butter, melted
3 cups chopped leeks (white and pale green parts only)
1 cup chopped dried pears
2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 pounds under-ripe Anjou pears, unpeeled, halved, cored, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 4 1/2 cups)
1 cup plus additional canned low-salt chicken broth
5 large eggs, beaten to blend

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Place bread cubes on large rimmed baking sheet. Toast in oven until just beginning to color, about 10 minutes. Cool on sheet. Transfer to large bowl. Maintain oven temperature. Steam parsnips over boiling water until tender, about 4 minutes.
Sauté sausage in heavy large pot set over medium-high heat until brown and cooked through, breaking into small pieces with back of spoon, about 7 minutes. Transfer sausage to strainer set over bowl. Add enough melted butter to sausage drippings to measure 6 tablespoons; add to pot. Heat over medium-low heat. Add leeks, dried pears, sage, nutmeg and parsnips to pot and sauté until leeks are tender but not brown, about 10 minutes. Transfer to medium bowl; stir in sausage.
Heat 2 tablespoons melted butter in same pot over medium-high heat. Add fresh pears and sauté until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to bowl with parsnip mixture. Add 1 cup broth to same pot and boil until reduced almost to glaze, scraping up browned bits, about 5 minutes. Add to parsnip mixture. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover bread and parsnip mixture separately. Store bread at room temperature. Refrigerate parsnip mixture.) Add parsnip mixture to bread. Season with salt and pepper. Mix eggs into stuffing.

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