Cornbread and cornbread dressing are highlights at Casa Bouquet for big family meals. As a Latina, I enjoy cooking holiday feasts with Latino flavor. This cornbread dressing Latino style has jalapeño and capers for flavor and is our substitute for tamales, nacatamales, hallacas, or humitas. Corn is an important part of Latino cooking, but I’m serving cornbread instead of tortillas! 
I make the cornbread and assemble the dressing and refrigerate the day before our feast. I bake the dressing after the turkey comes out of the oven, while I’m making gravy and the other sides.
You will need a 9 x 13 inch cake pan, a loaf or brownie pan, cookie pan or half sheet, mixing bowl, spoon, sauté pan, and a sharp knife.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, add two boxes Jiffy Corn Muffin mix, eggs, milk, and drained can of sweet corn. You can also make your favorite cornbread recipe, just make sure it’s enough for a 3 quart cake pan.
Tip: all quick breads need very little mixing. The rule of thumb is 20 stirs. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to mix the ingredients until just moistened.
Line the cake pan with parchment paper. Pour in the batter and even it out.
Bake in the center of the oven for 20 to 23 minutes. It should be fairly crisp on top if done. Cool for 10 minutes or so.
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
Cut enough of the cornbread to make 2 cups (about 1/3 of the cake pan). Use the remainder of the cornbread for bread at the meal.
Line a half sheet with silicon baking mat or parchment paper. Crumble the cornbread evenly over the pan. The chunks can be about the size of a marble or larger.
Toast in the center of the oven for 15 minutes. The crumbs are ready if they feel crispy, not soft.
Dice jalapeño pepper and banana peppers. Tip: your family might prefer a mix of onion, celery, and bell pepper.
Roughly chop the pecans.
Mince cilantro or parsley.
Heat a spoonful of water in a sauté pan on high. When the water begins to boil, turn the heat to medium high and add olive oil. Immediately add the diced peppers. Cook until softened, lowering the heat if necessary. Add the minced garlic and cook for 30 more seconds.
In a bowl, place the toasted cornbread crumbs, sautéed vegetables, pecans, cilantro, herbs, and capers. Tip: This is also delicious with crumbled cook sausage. Italian, Andouille, chorizo, or linguica work well. To up the Latin flavor, try adding garbanzos, chopped green olives, and raisins. 
Pour 1 cup of chicken broth over and toss lightly. Try not to break up the cornbread chunks.
Grease the loaf pan and pack in the cornbread “bread pudding”. Cover with foil and refrigerate until ready to bake.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake the cornbread dressing for 25 minutes. I usually take the foil off for the last 10 minutes.
Makes 4 servings of dressing. Bake a second or third loaf if necessary! Two recipes would fit in the 9 x 13 cake pan.
Recipe
Cornbread dressing Latino style is cooked with jalapeño, pecans, and capers. Start with cornbread made with corn kernels.
Nutrition facts for cornbread dressing Latino style
The cornbread will make 18 squares of cornbread. One dish of cornbread dressing will serve 4 to 6.
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- cornbread
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- cornbread dressing
I’ll be looking for comments below, or contact me at lisa [at] thecasabouquet[dot]com.
Resource links
- http://www.pbs.org/food/recipes/strawberry-shortcake-with-basil-whipped-cream-and-coconut-cornbread/
- Chef Vivian Howard’s coconut cornbread
- http://www.newsobserver.com/living/food-drink/article68774832.html
- Cornbread and culture includes sweet and and not-sweet recipes
- Gluten free cornbread from Strength & Sunshine
- http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodfaq.html#cornbread
- History of cornbread from Food Timeline
Let’s talk story
My Mama came to the US from Nicaragua. In her generation, young ladies didn’t necessarily learn to cook. But we ate mangoes and coconuts, managed to find Caribbean restaurants that served the foods she loved, and eventually we learned how to make some of the recipes. We did have a stone metate for grinding corn to make tortillas. For a holiday feast, my menu might include black bean soup, roast turkey (pavo Latino style) plátanos fritos (crispy fried plantains), achiote rice, cornbread dressing, and vigorón (cabbage slaw salad with yuca and crispy pork rinds).
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