Quick tips (spoon bread, chili, meatballs)
I had a couple of light bulbs go off over my head this weekend. Okay, they were about the size of an oven light bulb instead of a standard size, but I still think these tiny tips might be worth passing along.
Spoon bread for cheaters: I had some leftover cornbread recently. Specifically, I had six corn muffins I’d let sit around too long, and they’d become a little too dry to enjoy the standard way. Cornbread is one of those breads that lends itself well to creative leftovers. For example, you could turn it into a cornbread dressing, make cornbread croutons or just do what my grandfolks used to: Crumble it into a glass of cold buttermilk and go at it with a spoon.
But I thought I remembered my mother turning leftover cornbread into spoon bread, and I had such a craving for spoon bread that I tried to find such a recipe. I had no luck whatsoever! But seeing as how I had very little to lose, I decided to experiment. Here’s what I did:
1. Scald one cup of milk in a medium saucepan.
2. Stir in about two tablespoons of butter until melted.
3. Crumble the dry, leftover cornbread into the mixture and stir until all of the liquid is absorbed. Serve hot with another pat of butter, if desired, or a drizzle of honey or molasses.
It isn’t the Culinary Institute of America, folks, but it’s a tasty way to save some cornbread that’s gone past its prime. Extragood with some greens and pork chops or ribs. Of course, you can make real spoon bread from scratch fairly easily, too. It calls for eggs, which I left out.
* Chili for nachos: Next time you make a big pot of chili and feel certain you’ll get your fill before it has all been consumed, freeze a cup or two in small plastic containers. It’ll be the perfect amount for a plate of lazy Sunday afternoon nachos, and healthier than canned chili.
* Quick meal idea for this week: Last week, Howard ordered spaghetti with meatballs. Meatballs are so easy to make, so I said OK. I made a batch with a pound of ground beef and plopped them into the sauce. I’m one of those odd birds who doesn’t like spaghetti three times in a row, so we turned the last several meatballs into meatball subs, adding some mushrooms to the mix, stuffing them into sub rolls and melting mozzarella over the top. It’s a nice way to get two quick meals out of one easy effort.
Basic Italian Meatballs
Makes 20-25
1 lb. ground beef
2/3 cup dry bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten
1 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup minced onion
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Mix all ingredients together with clean hands until thoroughly combined.
3. Roll into 1 1/2-inch balls and place in a 13-by-9-inch baking dish, leaving about an inch of space between them.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until no longer pink in the middle.
To print this recipe, click here.
January 25, 2011 - 7:11 AM
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How about cornbread salad? The Food Lion deli in Radford makes a good one, with big chunks of ham and cheese, and not too ranch-y. I tried to reproduce it at home, with limited success. Many recipes for it are on cooks.com, but none like I wanted. Do you have a good one?
I don’t have a cornbread salad recipe that I could recommend, but maybe someone else does?
Sorry, can’t help w/ the cornbread salad, I’ve never seen or heard of it! But a couple of other comments; Cornbread and buttermilk IS an awesome “snack!” On a similar note, my father crumbled saltine crackers in a glass and added buttermilk! Lots of S & P. That is delicious as well. Another good way to use homemade chili beans is to pour them over a buttered baked potato, yummy!
I do, I’ll look it up when I get home this evening.
Yum meatballs…I made this exact thing this weekend and had some people over to see the Stillers game.
Because I have a ton of pork, I used a combo of ground pork and mild sausage. And, because I can’t eat a meatball sub without getting it all over me, I sliced the meatballs in half, laid them flat side down on a baguette sliced in half, topped with red sauce provolone and stuck them under the broiler. Yum! We ate them open-faced with a knife and fork.
That sounds awesome. It’s kind of hard to eat a meatball sub without a knife and fork!
Meatballs would be a great thing to make with kids. It’s so easy. And you point out that they are a great appetizer, too. You could leave out the Italian seasoning and use some more basic seasonings, like a little garlic salt, then simmer them in barbecue sauce, etc.
Dennis, my mom used to eat cornbread crumbled in buttermilk. I like buttermilk in my cornbread batter and biscuit dough, but don’t like it to drink.
When ground beef goes on sale I buy a huge amount, pack 1 lb amounts in baggies to freeze, and make my basic meatloaf out of the rest. Then I divide that in half and to one half add garlic, italian herbs and parmesan, roll into balls, brown in the oven, divide into baggies and freeze. The meatloaf half I shape into small loaves and wrap and freeze. The meatballs can be dropped frozen directly into hot sauce to simmer and the meatloaf can go directly into a 350F oven to thaw and cook. If the meat loaf starts getting too brown I tent foil over it.
http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/now-drinking-the-grilled-cheese-and-tomato-soup-martini/
Ok I’m too lazy to look for the weird cocktail thread.
“Soole starts with his own batch of “grilled cheese rum” — dark, viscous Mt. Gay “washed” overnight with a real-live grilled cheese sandwich, a seeping process to extract essential flavors and infuse them into the rum,..”
YUCK! Rum that’s had a grilled cheese sandwich soaking in it!
you rock!
Connie, this is the cornbread salad recipe I use. It calls for bacon pieces instead of ham, but you can substitute. It does have ranch dressing, so this probably isn’t really what you’re looking for, but you can check it out.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sara-moulton/cornbread-salad-recipe/index.html
I never have leftover cornbread now that my son’s hooked on it. We made a teeny cast iron skillet of it last night and drizzled it with honey straight out of the oven. My kid called it ‘dessert.’
Grilled cheese rum? EWW! Debbie, the cornbread salad sounds good, almost like a casserole but in salad form.
Oh, and Lindsey, the meatball recipe sounds so good! It’s been a while since I’ve made meatballs. With the crummy weather we are about to have, I might have to make some tomorrow. The meatball sub sounds awesome!
Nothing like a meatball sub on a cold, snowy day. Or maybe just a cold, rainy day?
Does anyone know how to make cornbread that isn’t dry? I’ve tried a dozen recipes and they are all essentially the same. Something between cornbread and spoonbread? a past restaurant in Bbg (the Nerv) had individual iron pans of very moist cornbread with corn in it and it was fabulous.
“Does anyone know how to make cornbread that isn’t dry?”
I’ve had some luck with adding sour cream.
That salad is good, Kathy. Grilled cheese rum sounds nauseating.
It upsets me that anyone would want to do such a revolting thing to a grilled cheese sandwich, which is arguably the best food on earth.
I agree, Lindsey!
Well, no meatballs were made today, no ground beef on hand. Instead I made venison BBQ with slaw. As soon as I can get to the store, I’m going to stock up on burger!
How are there NOT crumbs floating in the rum? And grease?
And I did make some brownies! gotta have something sweet on a snowy/rainy day!
Kristen, I dont know if you’ve ever made cornbread and used creamed corn in the batter or not, but it’s pretty moist. Add some chopped chilis or jalapenos and it’s really good….if you like that kind of thing.
Thanks, Debbie. I tried making it again, but this time I left the cornbread out when mixing the ham and cheese chunks, diced red onion and green pepper, quartered grape tomatoes with just enough ranch dressing. Then I crumbled the cornbread into melted butter and stirred to coat, then mixed it with the veggies. It turned out really tasty! A balanced meal in one dish, and, I would guess, pretty healthy.
I made the meatballs last night — excellent! Thanks
Gary, that sounds really good and I do like dressing stuff up with veggies that way.
I made the meatballs last week, ended up with 20 nice-sized meatballs. I put about 12 in sauce with spaghetti for dinner last
Saturday, put the rest in a freezer bag in the freezer, and the unused sauce in another freezer container. Today I took them both out and thawed them, and made meatball subs with provolone on whole wheat bollilio rolls that I bought at Walmart.
Very good! I think next time I make the meatballs I might add a little more italian seasoning and maybe some more worcestershire and garlic.
Thanks to you Lindsey, my hubby & I had some awesome meatball subs last night during the Super Bowl!! Love the recipe & it’s a definite keeper! Thanks so much for sharing it!!!
Yum Connie, that sounds great!
ATTN Cornbread salad lovers: A reader sent me her recipe for a layered cornbread salad with bacon, onions, green peppers, pickle and a mayo-based dressing. Find it here: http://www.roanoke.com/food/recipes/details/?rid=1094&sorig=qs
Kathy and Pam, I’m so glad you all enjoyed the meatball subs! A pound of beef seems to make just enough meatballs for spaghetti and a couple of subs – perfecto!