Cornbread Salad a.k.a. Southern Style Panzanella

This is a reat recipe for leftover cornbread. If you're southern, you might actually have leftover cornbread sometime. If not, you can make it fresh like I did. A couple of things about making cornbread: my mother taught me to always make it in a well-seasoned iron skillet, and to use bacon fat on the bottom of said skillet. I almost always follow the bacon fat rule, and I follow the iron skillet rule without fail. Of course, it is possible to make cornbread without either of these things, but there is a nostalgia for me that bubbles up each and every time I make it like my mom taught me that I just can't resist. My mom and I rarely made cornbread, but on holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, we would always make a recipe to start mom's famous dressing. The dressing was at every one of those holidays that I can remember, and every year the response was overwhelmingly positive. I once heard Martha Stewart (yes, I know) say on her cooking show that no recipe can ever surpass the quality of its ingredients. I think she's right, and I know that the reason mom's dressing was so good was that we always started with homemade cornbread. (The pound of butter probably helped, as well.) Anyway, we had grilled BBQ chicken for dinner last night, and Chad wanted corn and tomatoes with it. Since the two veggies are so very good right now, I happily obliged. Then I decided we should have some cornbread with this super southern meal- then I remembered Frank Stitt's recipe for cornbread panzanella that I had seen in his book The Southern Table. Because I did not have many of the ingredients called for in Stitt's recipe, I went ahead and winged it. The result was a delicious, sweet, dressing-like salad chock full of summer flavor: tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh herbs, corn off the cob, this "salad" is a big bowl of summer!

Cornbread Salad
serves six generously

4 cups yellow cornbread
3 large ripe tomatoes
1/2 cucumber
1 ear of corn, cooked, kernels sliced off
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
salt and pepper to taste ( I used about 1 t salt and 1/2 t pepper)
1/4 c red wine vinegar
1/4 c fresh herbs (I used basil, thyme, and chives)

Make the cornbread according to the package. Once finished, take it out of the cooking vessel and cut into chunks. Set aside. Cut the tomatoes into thick slices, and cut those slices into quarters. Put the slices in a medium bowl. Cut the cucumber into thin slices, and cut those slices in half. Put the cucumber slices into the bowl, and salt the tomatoes and cucumbers with about 1/2 t salt. Cook the ear of corn in boiling water for about ten minutes and let cool. Then cut the kernels off of the cob and add the bowl of veggies. Slice the red onion thinly and add it to the bowl. Add the herbs and red wine vinegar to the bowl and let the veggie mixture sit until the veggies have released their juices, about ten more minutes. Toss in the cornbread chunks and mix carefully with a big spoon. The cornbread will break up quite a bit, and the mixture will end up looking a bit like dressing (or stuffing, as some folks I know call it). Taste the salad and season as needed with salt and pepper. Serve with any southern buffet!

Comments

[Ginger Colquitt]

Macree.....I have had fun checking your website...It is great and I hope you will keep it going...Hope to see you in Memphis when I am there the first of Aug...Love, G (Lee's mom)