Image by Molly Yeh

If your family is like my family, your Thanksgiving starts with turning on the Macy’s parade, pouring a glass of wine, and toasting a bagel. It doesn’t totally make sense, but when you consider that the parade quickly becomes background noise for a busy day of cooking and “tablescaping,” the wine and energy in the form of noshing on bagels sort of makes more sense.

Because for us, Thanksgiving is as much about the journey of preparing the meal all together as it is about sitting down around a table, gorging on sweet potatoes, and switching between tears and laughter as we all say what we were grateful for this year.

With Thanksgiving recipe planning on my brain right now, stuffing is first. Stuffing is always first. I think I’ve made stuffing with just about every one of my favorite bread-y things: challah, soft pretzels, sufganiyot for Thanksgivukkah… It’s only natural that this year’s stuffing be made with bagels. And what better way to use up bagels leftover from Thanksgiving brunch?

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This stuffing pulls from flavors that are present in a classic bagel and lox: red onions, scallions, chives and capers, if you like them. Any savory bagel will do, although I believe that a mix of everything bagels and whole wheat or pumpernickel bagels will give you the most flavor with a pretty mix of color. If you’re down with dairy on the table, you might consider finishing this off with a drizzle of melted cream cheese.

Bagel stuffing

Makes 6-8 servings

¼ cup butter or margarine
1 large purple onion, thinly sliced
5 stalks scallions, sliced
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons chopped chives
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup vegetable or chicken broth
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons capers, optional
4 large day-old bagels, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 8 cups)

1) Preheat oven to 375˚ F. Grease a casserole dish and set aside.

2) Melt butter or margarine in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion and scallions, season with salt and pepper and cook until soft, 5-7 minutes. Add the chives and garlic and cook for 2 more minutes.

3) In a large bowl, whisk together broth and eggs. Add the capers (if using), bagels and onion/butter mixture and fold to combine. Pour into your casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes, or longer if you’d like it to be browned more on top.

Molly Yeh is a food blogger who recently moved from Brooklyn to a farm outside of Grand Forks, North Dakota. Her blog is mynameisyeh.com.

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