Tis' the season, and so forth. Thanksgiving is just past, Christmas is ahead . I shared Thanksgiving with a friend's family this year, but I couldn't resist doing some cooking as well, so I did a little feast for myself and a few friends on the weekend. Instead of Yet Another Turkey, I did a roast Goose fer a bit of a change. As usual I did a bit of experimenting and came up with this stuffing recipe:

Italian Sausage stuffing:

• 1-1/4 lb hot Italian sausage
• 2 cups celery, chopped
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 green bell peppers, cored and chopped
• 3 cups cooked brown rice
• 1 sliced roma tomato
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 tsp majoram
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp sage
• 1 tbsp oregano
• 2 tsp basil
• salt (to taste)
• 2 tbsp butter

Melt butter in a large sauté pan, add onions and celery. Sauté on high heat until the onions start to turn translucent. Add peppers, and cover, letting the vegetables cook down a bit, stirring periodically.

While that is cooking, in another pan, brown the italian sausage, then let it cook through. When the sausage is done, slice it crosswise into thin slices (~ 1/4 or so).

When the bell peppers have cooked though, uncover the vegtable mix, and add 4 cloves crushed, choppped garlic. Add spices to vegtables, stir, and remove from heat.

In a large mixing bowl, combine sliced sausage, vegetable mix, walnuts and rice. Stir the mixture, mixing it up thoroughly, and adding a pinch or two of salt if needed. Start stuffing your bird. Just before you've filled it entirely, put some slices of fresh roma tomato inside the bird, ontop of the stuffing mix. Before you close up the opening in the bird, cover stuffing with tomato slice, and put in a whole garlic clove.

This recipe made a little more than I needed for my 9 lb goose, but would be just right for a larger goose, or a small turkey.