Cornbread Dressing with Smoked Bacon and Pecans

Ingredients

• 4 ounces applewood-smoked bacon cut into 1/4-inch pieces
• 6 tablespoons butter melted
• 1 cup carrots diced
• 1 cup celery diced
• 0.8 cup chicken broth 
• 6.5 cups classic cornbread crumbled
• 0.3 cup flat-leaf parsley fresh chopped
• 2 teaspoons marjoram fresh chopped
• 2 teaspoons thyme leaves fresh chopped
• 4  green onions chopped
• 1 cup onions diced
• 0.5 cup pecan halves 
• 0.5 teaspoon pepper 
• 0.8 teaspoon salt 

Equipment

• frying pan
• paper towels
• oven
• baking pan
• grill
• aluminum foil
• dutch oven

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 32
2. Bake pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 10 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, stirring halfway through.
3. Remove from oven. Increase oven temperature to 37
4. Cook bacon in a Dutch oven over medium heat 5 to 6 minutes. (Do not crisp.)
5. Remove bacon, and drain on paper towels, reserving drippings in Dutch oven. Saut diced onion and next 2 ingredients in hot drippings 8 minutes or until tender. Stir in green onions; saut 1 minute.
6. Remove from heat.
7. Add bacon, cornbread, and next 3 ingredients. Stir together melted butter and broth, and stir into cornbread mixture.
8. Add salt and pepper. Fold in pecans. Spoon dressing into a buttered, shallow 2-qt. baking dish; cover with aluminum foil.
9. Bake, covered, at 375 for 25 minutes.
10. Remove from oven, and uncover.
11. Transfer oven rack to highest position.
12. Bake dressing, uncovered, 12 minutes or until top is crusty.
13. Recipe brought to the table by chef Frank Stitt of Highlands Bar and Grill in Birmingham, Alabama.