The Thanksgiving Star...Cajun Cornbread Dressing

A recent conversation...

• Classmate: So, do you make some awesome dish for Thanksgiving?
• Me: Well, my absolute favorite part of the meal is the dressing. My family has this special dressing with sausage. In fact, I brought back a special sausage from the south, because the sausage we've tried up here doesn't compare.
• Him: So, is this some kind of gravy?
• Me: No, it's dressing. You know, dressing. As in, Turkey and.
• Him: Like a salad dressing?
• Me: (Realizing now that the kind of dressing that I'm talking about is a foreign entity to him) Hmmm. How do I explain? I guess it's like stuffing. But it's not stuffing. We don't put it inside the bird.
• Him: So it's stuffing, but you call it dressing?
• Me: Yes, but it's not stuffing. It's different. We don't put it inside the bird. And it's made with cornbread. In a casserole dish...

I still don't think this poor soul quite has a firm understanding of what dressing is. And he cannot possibly understand how fabulous it is. Otherwise, he would be beating our apartment door down for me to make some right now!

What I told him is true, though. It is the best part of the Thanksgiving meal. And the sausage that we use? Well, there's just no comparison to Conecuh sausage. If you live anywhere in the Southeast, try to get your hands on some. If you can readily get your hands on some, I am jealous of you. We brought enough back with us at the end of the summer to last us until our trip home at Christmas, including enough to make this dressing.  If you aren't blessed to have access to this wonderful gift, use the best spicy smoked sausage that you can find.

I will be honest with you; this dressing does require a little bit of time to put together.  But it can be made in advance and frozen for several weeks, making the actual day of the feast much simpler.  And the praise you will receive is well worth the effort. 

Cajun Cornbread Dressing

From my Mom's kitchen, adapted from Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen


For the cornbread:

2 cups buttermilk
8 tablespoons butter, melted
2 cups self-rising cornmeal
1 cup Aunt Jamima buttermilk pancake mix
4 eggs
2 tablespoons sugar

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Butter a large skillet or 9 x 13 baking dish.  Combine all ingredients and bake for 30 minutes.  Set aside to cool. 

For the dressing:

3 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon white pepper
½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon thyme
6 tablespoons butter
1 ½ cups finely chopped onions
1 ½ cups finely chopped bell pepper
1 cup finely chopped celery
2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic
2 bay leaves
1 pound link smoked sausage
1 14 ½ oz. can chicken stock or homemade chicken or turkey stock
1 12 oz. can evaporated milk
6 eggs, beaten
Butter two casserole dishes, one large (9 x 13) and one small (8 x 8). 


Thoroughly combine first 6 ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. 

Boil sausage in a pan in 2 inches of water for 12 minutes.  Drain the water and grind the sausage in a food processor.  Set aside. 

In a large skillet, melt the butter. Add the onions, bell peppers, celery, garlic and bay leaves. Sauté about 2 minutes on high heat. Add seasoning mix and continue cooking until vegetables are barely wilted, about 5 minutes. Stir in the ground sausage and stock; cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Turn off heat. Remove bay leaves.

In the large bowl, crumble the cornbread.  Add the milk and eggs, stirring well.  Add the vegetable and sausage mixture to this and mix well.  Divide the dressing between the two buttered casserole dishes. 

Bake at 350 until brown on top and bubbly in the middle, about 45 minutes.

Freezing instructions: If you decide to make this in advance and freeze it, wrap it well with aluminum foil and freeze.  To defrost, move the frozen casseroles to the refrigerator for 36 hours.  Put the defrosted casseroles in a cold oven.  Turn the oven to 350 and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until bubbly.  Do not overbake. 

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Cornbread for your Chili

You asked for it.  Well, even if you didn't, I know that you wanted it.  The recipe for that beautiful cornbread.  So tender.  So lovely.  So...easy!  One taste of this cornbread, and you'll never go back to that jiffy mix again. 

Sister's Cornbread

1 stick salted butter
1 cup self-rising cornmeal
1/2 cup cream-style corn
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon sugar
2 eggs
1 small onion, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the stick of butter in a small baking dish, and place in the oven.

In a small bowl, stir together the remaining ingredients. When the butter is melted, mix it into the batter. Pour the batter back into the casserole and bake for 40 minutes.

*This recipe is for a small baking dish. I used a 7 x 11 dish, and it was perfect (an 8 x 8 would work, too). If you use a standard 9 x 13 dish, double the recipe.

It's a little "Chili" up here!

Since the last time I addressed the subject of weather, we have had some almost summer-like days and some bitterly cold, late January-esque days. Most days, however, have a bit of chill in the air, just right for fall.  It is on those days that we can really enjoy our soups and stews and most recently, a very large pot of chili. 

Now, this is no ordinary pot of chili.  I should know.  I have a very special, totally impartial means of judging meals.  I don't need to tell you about the complex flavors coming from the toasted spices and the beer.  I don't need to tell you about the perfect amount of spiciness.  I just use my special system.  I could call it the husband-hum system.  Or the hum test.  Or the happy-husband-hum.  You see, I have my own personal "thermometer" for a good meal built right into my (very objective) husband.  The better a meal tastes, the more he hums.  And last night, he was practically singing! 

There are many ways to enjoy chili.  You can eat it over rice (as we always had it growing up), or corn chips (as my husband likes it), but last night we decided to eat it with cornbread, sprinkled with cheese and a dollop of sour cream.  It was a fabulous treat, and a foil to the windy chill outside. 

Chili for a Crowd*

from my mom's kitchen

4 pounds lean ground beef
6 cloves garlic, minced
4 large sweet onions, coarsely chopped
2 large bell peppers, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
10-ounce can tomatoes and green chilies
2 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes
6-ounce can tomato paste
2 15-ounce cans dark red kidney beans, drained
15-ounce can black beans, drained
2 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons coriander
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 bottles dark beer

Brown the ground beef in a large pot.  Drain the beef in a colander to remove the fat.  Set aside.

In the same pot, sauté the garlic, onions, and bell peppers in the olive oil for about 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, heat the cumin and coriander in a dry skillet until steamy and starting to brown.  Add the spices and ground beef to the vegetables.  Add the remaining ingredients and cook on low heat for two hours, stirring occasionally.

*This recipe make a lot; there will be plenty for you and friends, or you can freeze it for later enjoyment!  You could half the recipe, but make sure you find a good use for that half-can of rotel (tomatoes with chilies)!

No Leftovers

At the end of last week, Kristin at the Kitchen Sink featured her first attempt at a Low Country Boil. This is a meal that I have made many times, and reading her article made me want to put that on our menu for this week’s meals. I added smoked sausage to the pot and cornbread to complete the meal. The first thing that my husband said was, “Are we having company?”, and then he became very excited that it was no special event, but just a Monday night dinner for the two of us.

This was our meal on Tuesday night:

Do you notice anything? You might not, but my husband did notice that there were no leftovers for him to eat for lunch on Tuesday. If you look closely, you will see that there are a lot of similar elements from our Low Country Boil! I took everything except the sausage and repurposed it for Tuesday’s dinner. Of course, my husband was a little disappointed when he realized that there were no leftovers for lunch, but he was very satisfied when dinner came around.

I was worried that because everything was cooked with the same spices on Monday night which is a good thing with that meal, that there would be the same essence throughout Tuesday’s meal (which I did not necessarily want). This really was not a problem; the new flavors that were added were really complemented by the Boil seasoning. Here’s how I did it:

1.) Corn on the Cob becomes a Corn and Cherry Tomato Salad

2 ears of corn, cooked

1 pint cherry tomatoes

1/2 red onion

2-3 stems of basil

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Cut the corn off of the cob using a sharp knife. Place the corn into a medium bowl. Half the cherry tomatoes and add to the corn. Finely dice the onion and add as well. Chiffonade or chop the basil, and add the basil and the rest of the ingredients to the bowl. Mix well, and serve at room temperature.

2.) Potatoes become Potato Salad

You can adjust your ingredients based on how many potatoes you have. Because I was using leftovers, I had fewer potatoes.

6 medium red potatoes, cut into pieces, boiled until cooked through

1 ¼ cups Mayonnaise

1 cup sour cream

¼ cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon celery seed

1 ½ teaspoon horseradish

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 cup chopped green onions

Mix all together and adjust for seasonings.

3.) Shrimp became Shrimp Burgers

½ pound peeled cooked shrimp

½ rib celery

2-3 stems parsley

1 green onion

1 large lemon

1 ½ tablespoons mayonnaise

½ cup cornbread crumbs (I used one cornbread muffin from the night before)

salt and pepper

hot pepper sauce
1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon butter

Chop the shrimp, celery, parsley and onion. Place into a small bowl. Using a fine grater, zest half of the lemon and add to the bowl. Add the mayonnaise and cornbread. Add salt, pepper, and hot pepper sauce to taste. Add about half of the beaten egg, and mix well. The mixture will barely hold together.

Using your hands, make two burgers from the mixture. They will hold together better if they are thicker, rather than wider. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Heat the butter over medium heat in a large nonstick skillet. Carefully add the burgers, using a spatula to press any parts that have fallen apart. Cook for 3-4 minutes, and then use two spatulas to carefully turn both burgers. Cook on the other side for 3-4 minutes. Serve over a bed of baby greens.