Cornbread croutons, veggies give this quintessential Southern dish new twist

What could be more Southern than cornbread? A recent issue of Southern Living magazine featured a variety of quintessential recipes (such as cornbread, grits, collards, and shrimp jambalaya) highly identified with our region of the country. The magazine gave each of them a new twist to make them more appealing to today’s lighter palate.

One that caught my eye and immediately went into the “must-try” category was Panzanella Salad with Cornbread Croutons. I have been the Cornbread Queen ever since my first cookbook, Way Back in the Country, was released some years back and I traipsed from TV station to TV station in the promotion of it. During this interesting time I had to learn a new skill: preparing food under the glare of TV cameras. The programming person at each TV station requested that I make Golden Cornbread, one of my family’s staple recipes. I can’t tell you how many batches of cornbread I whipped up for the TV lights so I would have the finished product on display while I stirred up a demo batch.

As a result of this blitz I grew to the point at which I could make cornbread in my sleep. So, to get this new recipe started, I tested myself to see whether I could remember the oft-baked Golden Cornbread Recipe (find it on page 23 of my cookook, Way Back in the Country) by heart. Once I baked a pan of it and let it cool completely, I cut up the cornbread into the 1-inch cubes that this recipe required and then toasted these cubes briefly in the oven so their edges would be brown and crouton-like.

From the garden the recipe called for red onion, a yellow bell pepper, tomatoes, and cucumber. How I look forward to some of those items being abundantly arrayed in my own garden a few weeks hence! (The tomato crop looks as though it will be particularly vast. As I gaze out my patio door, I see row after row of Hubby’s tomato stakes gleaming in the sun.)

We loved the honey-and-lemon vinaigrette that tied this unusual mixture together and gave it a slight Italian accent. I forgot to say that besides the other items in this somewhat unorthodox combination, the recipe also called for Hubby’s favorite condiment—black olives. I’ve always read that cornbread salad is a guy thing and that the heartiness of it makes it a man favorite. Truly, Panzanella Salad with Cornbread Croutons was a Hubby-pleaser through and through.

Panzanella Salad with Cornbread Croutons

One pan cornbread (made from your favorite recipe), cooled completely

1 yellow bell pepper, diced

1 small red onion, diced

1/2 cup olive oil, divided

2 teaspoons lemon zest

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon honey

salt (or salt substitute) and pepper, to taste

3 Roma tomatoes, diced

1/2 cucumber, quartered and sliced

1/2 cup black olives, sliced

1/2 cup torn fresh basil leaves

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut cornbread into 1-inch cubes. Bake in a single layer on a lightly greased cookie sheet 15 minutes or until edges are golden. Stir halfway through. Meanwhile saute bell pepper and onion in 1 tablespoon hot olive oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat 5 minutes or until pepper and onion are crisp-tender. In a large bowl whisk together lemon zest, lemon juice, honey, remaining 7 tablespoons olive oil, and salt and pepper. Stir in onion mixture, tomatoes, and next 3 ingredients. Add toasted cornbread cubes and toss to coat. Serve immediately. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Line up all this green for St. Paddy’s Day, just around the corner

Nobody in our part of Texas really believes that winter won’t trick us with another sneak blast before we can kiss Jack Frost goodbye permanently. Rumblings yesterday at Roach Feed & Seed, Garland’s local supplier of gardening goods and advice, were that before the end of the month, a last bad freeze likely is due in. I peek out my back door at the burgeoning lettuce leaves struggling to keep their heads above the garden soil and wonder whether they can be survivors through another round of Arctic Attack.

While I wait for nature’s bounty from my own garden, I still have a partial bag of romaine lettuce left over from Three-Leaf Salad, the Wonder Salad I blogged about earlier in the week. Time for Lemony Lettuce, a second dressed-up lettuce recipe across the page from Three-Leaf Salad in my “Celebrating a Healthy Harvest” cookbooklet.

Talk about a tangy dressing that just makes the dish! The lemon-oil-and-vinegar, spiked with ground mustard, salt, and pepper, brings those lettuce leaves to life. As with the mundane-looking Three-Leaf Salad that ultimately got rave reviews, Lemony Lettuce amazes with its understated potential for being the most talked-about item on a buffet table.

With all this healthy green, I’m thinkin', line this recipe up for St. Paddy’s Day, which, after all, is just around the corner.

Lemony Lettuce

1 large head romaine lettuce

1 avocado, peeled, cut up into chunks

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon mustard

Rinse romaine pieces under cold running water. Shake off excess water and dry with paper towels. Place in salad bowl. Add cut-up avocado. Combine dressing ingredients in a screw-top jar. Cover and shake well. At serving time drizzle dressing over lettuce leaves and toss.