Tuesday, 10/19/2010

At our potluck on Saturday, our friend Shellie brought a Mexican casserole. I'm not sure exactly what went into it, but it did have beans, corn, and seasoned beef under some kind of cornbread crust. Not wanting to just have another pulled pork sandwich, I decided to experiment with tonight's meal. I used the Mexican casserole as my inspiration.

I took an 8x8-inch glass baking dish, sprayed it with non-stick cooking spray, and covered the bottom with about an inch of leftover BBQ pulled pork. Then I mixed up a batch of corn bread batter, using the recipe on the back of the Albers Yellow Corn Meal box, and poured it over the pork. I baked it in a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes. Although the toothpick I stuck in the middle came out clean, it wasn't quite done cooking. Given another 5 minutes in the oven, we would have avoided the soggy middle. It tasted good even though it was a bit soggy. It was fun to experiment. I rarely cook or bake without a recipe to follow.

Here's the recipe to make the corn bread by itself. When I was growing up, it was the recipe my parents would make to go with dinner. I always slather my cornbread with butter and a coat of cinnamon/sugar:)

ALBERS CORN BREAD
Makes 9-12 servings

Ingredients:
1 cup yellow corn meal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease 8-inch-square baking pan.
2. Combine corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl. Combine milk, oil, and egg in small bowl; mix well.  Add milk mixture to flour mixture; stir just until blended.  Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Serve warm.
Note: Recipe may be doubled.  Used greased 13x9-inch baking pan; bake as above.