Cornbread, Chili and Me

Truth be told, I was planning on doing one more post about a place in San Diego, but it's gonna have to wait a minute. What you see above is simply last nights dinner. The key word in that last sentence is simply. There is absolutely nothing complicated about this! I'm gonna say it one more time: There is NOTHING...COMPLICATED...ABOUT THIS!!!

As much as I'd like to take credit for inventing this, I was actually inspired by something I saw on D,D and D. Mr. Fieri was at a spot in Tennessee called Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint. This place was cooking up whole hog, and from the look of things, doing it very well. But what caught my eye was a dish they called the Redneck Taco.

The Redneck Taco was basically a large cornbread pancake covered with chili, pulled pork, and a ton of fixings. If you have ever seen that episode, you know what I'm talking about. That thing was piled high.

After seeing the guy cook cornbread like pancakes, I knew I wanted to try it. I looked around the house, and sure enough, I had a box of Jiffy cornbread mix. Let's be real, you can't go wrong with this stuff! It's idiot proof. Even that C.H.U.D at your job can make cornbread this way!

I still needed to go to the store for the rest of this dish. A half hour later, I came back with a smoked sausage link, chili from the grocery deli section, and a few other odds and ends for the house.

The box of cornbread mix has a recipe for using it like pancakes. I followed it and the batter seemed a little too wet for my taste(Never thought something would ever be too wet for me). So, I stirred in a little more cornmeal until I got the consistency I liked.

After letting it rest for about 15 minutes, I heated a pan and dropped in a couple ladles of the mix.

Unlike pancake batter, this tends to spread a bit more in the pan. Just be cautious on how much batter you ladle in.

I sliced up the sausage and sauteed it to put a little color and crisp on them. The chili I kept warm in a pot. A quick dice of half a red onion and I'm done. It really was that simple.

Once the pancakes are done, put a little butter on there and load 'em up.

Seeing as how I didn't have to put that much effort in to making this, I wasn't expecting that much from it, as far as taste goes. I have to say that it was incredibly satisfying. The cakes had a nice little crust on each side. All these familiar flavors, just presented slightly different. Plus, it was a real rib-stickin' meal.

On a cold night, this would be an awesome meal. Too bad it's October and still 100 FUCKING DEGREES!!! This really fucking sucks! I am so looking forward to getting down and dirty with some fall comfort foods, but it's still blazing hot outside! Mother nature must be on the rag or something.

That's it for this one. If you want an easy weeknight meal, give this one a go. No muss, no fuss. And relatively cheap to put together. So save the excuses for next time and try this!

I'm out.

J. Miller