Cornbread Dressing recipe

[Saviolo]

So, after last week's video of the spatchcocked roasted turkey, you may have noticed some dressing on the plate! Well, that's our video recipe for this week. It's actually dead simple (and we'll put up the recipe for our cornbread next week), and super delicious, especially if you get all of those amazing pan drippings from the turkey in there.

The way my hubby's family down in Texas cooks a turkey is slightly non-traditional. They put all of the veggies and the cornbread, and some herbs and everything all together into a GIANT crock pot with the whole turkey, and then cook it slow for ages. The turkey comes out beautiful and moist, and all of the flavours cook together, and the dressing sort of makes itself underneath the cooking bird. Trouble is, you don't get that lovely crispy roasted turkey skin that way, so we prefer to do it this way! The flavour is totally comparable to the other method, and you have the bonus of being able to control the texture a little. You can do as we did, and add that last batch of cornbread a little later in the cooking process, and you'll have some nice pieces of cornbread mixed in with the smoother dressing. Fun!

[dem in texas]

1. Treat Cornbread Dressing like a Savory Bread Pudding

Bake your cornbread the day before Thanksgiving. I use one package white corn bread mix and bake in iron skillet. Turn out on a plate and let it air dry, do not cover or wrap. After dried out, cut in cubes and put on baking sheet along with 5 or 6 slices of white bread, cubed. Toast the cubes in the oven until lightly browned - 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes, stir several times. This can be done the day before Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving day, mix bread cubes, 1 large onion and 3 or 4 stalks chopped, 2 or 3 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley. Add 3 or 4 tablespoon rubbed sage, salt and pepper to taste. Beat 4 eggs in bowl and add 3 or 4 cups of milk. Pour this mixture in with the bread cubes and mix well. Once mixed, spoon into greased, large shallow baking dish. Cover with foil and let bake at 350 for 45 minutes, remove cover and you will find that the bread has absorbed the milk, moisten with stock and drippings from turkey or canned stock until moist. Taste and correct the seasoning and mix well. I like to add 2 or 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce and usually a little more sage. Leave off cover and bake another 30 minutes or so, until nicely browned. If it looks dry, add a little more stock.

This will serve about 10 to 12 people and probably some left over.

My husband was in the Air Force and we have lived all over the world. All those many years, we always made it point to invite friends to our house for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. Now I have passed the cooking baton to my son who loves to cook big family meals. He cooks the turkey, but I still make the dressing. And he has kept up the custom of inviting friends who are alone to share our meal.

[Saviolo]

2. That sounds tasty, for sure!

We do love bread pudding (and we're planning a video on it early in the new year!)

We're also doing our cornbread recipe next week, if you're interested in giving that a try! No mix, it's all from scratch (but it's really not much harder than using a mix, just a matter of being able to find masa corn flour!) Last time he made it, my hubby addded a bit of his fermented hot pepper relish (ghost and scorpion chilis), so it was super zippy.

Hubby was telling me how surprised he was when he found out how unusual the basis of his dressing was. No one has those giant crock pots that can hold an entire enormous turkey plus all the ingredients for the dressing! That's why we do it on the stove and just dump all those delicious drippings in as its cooking.

[dem in texas]

3. Buttermilk cornbread is the best

I usually cook from scratch, but there are two things I no longer, cornbread and mashed potatoes. There are lots of good products on the market for these foods. When my kids were home and I always made my own cornbread, always with buttermilk and no sugar.