This is not your traditional cornbread. It's actually a cornbread pie baked in a cast iron skillet with loads of homegrown or canned corn, ground sausage, sweet peppers, hot peppers, loads of cheese and eggs. The eggs hold everything together like a quiche. It’s delicious and you can make it as spicy as you like! Plus, it's a great way use many of your end of summer veggies.
Mom never made cornbread like this. She usually used a box mix that made good tasting cornbread but was so dry that it easily fell apart. It was easier to eat it with a drizzling of maple syrup …and by pressing your fork into the crumb to eat it. That may explain why we didn’t have it too much. This recipe does not fall apart.
This recipe serves 4-6.
Prepare your skillet: - Use a seasoned 10” cast iron skillet. If you are unaware of how to season the skillet, there are many ways described online. I wipe and scrape the skillet clean and wipe it with vegetable oil.
NOTE: Periodically I’ll wash it, rub it with vegetable oil inside and out, set it upside down on the rack in a 500F degree oven and bake it for 40 minutes. To keep the oven clean I lay a sheet of foil on the shelf under the pan to avoid any vegetable oil dripping onto the bottom of the oven.
Preheat your oven to 425F degrees.
Gather your Ingredients:
1 C Cornmeal, yellow
1 ½ t Baking powder
¼ t Salt
½ C Vegetable oil
1 C Milk
3 Eggs
1 C Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 C Onion, diced
½ t Red Pepper flakes
15 oz Sweet corn or Fiesta or Mexican corn, canned
2 Jalapeño peppers
1# Sausage, spicy
2 Bacon slices, sauteed, save the grease
Mix and Bake your Cornbread:
- Remove the stems and seeds from the jalapeño peppers or some hotter peppers – you know what you like. Take care not to touch your eyes or mouth while doing this. Some people even wear disposable gloves when working with hot peppers.
- Cut about 5 thick slices of jalapeno peppers for garnish on top of the cornbread.
- Dice the rest of the peppers to stir into the cornbread mixture.
- Sauté the bacon until crispy.
- Remove the bacon from the pan, drain and set aside.
- Save 1-2 tablespoons of the bacon grease and set aside.
- Brown the meat, drain and set aside.
- In the meantime, heat the cast iron skillet in the oven at 425F degrees until hot.
- While the skillet is heating, beat the eggs together in a medium bowl, just to combine. Add all the rest of the ingredients together so all are well combined. Set aside.
- When the skillet is very hot, carefully take it out of the oven and pour the 2 tablespoons of bacon grease in it.
- Carefully pour the cornbread mixture into the hot skillet. Make sure the mixture does not overflow the pan. In fact, I leave about ½” margin at the top. You can always bake any extra mixture in a smaller cast iron skillet or other high temperature safe prepared bowl or pan.
- Bake at 425F degrees for 30 minutes, until golden brown. I check it at the 25-minute mark so it doesn’t overbake.
- Carefully remove the hot skillet of cornbread from the oven.
- Brush the top with some butter.
- Lay the slices of jalapeño peppers on top. This is a visible warning to people who are averse to spicy foods that this is a hot spicy food.
- Break up the bacon and sprinkle over the cornbread, as long as the bacon hasn’t already disappeared due to snackers in your kitchen.
- Let cool a few minutes and slice in pie shapes and serve with fresh fruit and toast points.
- It’s easy to serve right in the skillet, just be sure to supply hot pads and warn everyone of the long-lasting heat generated by the cast iron pan and handle.
- You might like to try my Spicy Pepper Relish on this Cornbread Pie. The relish is great on sausages, hotdogs, and breakfast eggs. That recipe is also on my blog and website.
NOTE: The quick version of my Spicy Pepper Relish is to combine 2 cups chopped sweet and hot peppers, garlic clove, 1/2 chopped onion with 1/2 cup white vinegar, 1 t mustard seed, 1/2 cup sugar. Simmer all until the peppers are cooked through. Serve on top of meats and this Spicy Cornbread Pie. Store in a jar in the frig.
I particularly like this accompanied with by a hot spicy sausage covered with my Spicy Pepper Relish and toast points spread with cream cheese (to cut the heat of the peppers when I need it).
Whatever you use for your Spicy Cornbread Pie, use what you enjoy, spicy or not. Try some stronger flavored cheeses. Enhance the pie with salsa or Spicy Pepper Relish. Enjoy the flavors in this recipe and “Bake your own Memories!”
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