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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I use the 113 pot, which will hold up to a 13 pound turkey. I fill the sink with cold water and submerge the top and bottom of the pot for 15 minutes. I fill the wet pot with the turkey and a ½ inch of wine and place on the center rack in the oven. Then you turn on the oven to 480 degrees. So the pot is starting off cold and being brought slowly up to a very high heat. A roast turkey takes between 60 and 90 minutes to cook (check the meat with a thermometer, it should be 175 degrees).
Cover the kitchen counter with 2 or 3 towels or use wooden cutting boards. Carefully take the pot out of the oven (I use oven mitts with pads, or you can use barbecue mitts) and place on the cloth. Carefully tip the top of the pot away from you (you don’t want the steam in your face), and place it on the cloth. Use the drippings for the best gravy! You will need a large Romertopf clay pot, up to 4 cloth towels, barbecue mitts, saucepan, whisk, and a sharp knife.
Wash the apple, limes, and cilantro. Cut the apple and limes into large chunks, removing the seeds. If you wish, cut the main part of the stems of cilantro off. Tip: you can use all limes if you wish and parsley instead of cilantro. These flavors will be in the gravy. Agnes is allergic to cilantro, so I have to be careful! Place the rack one level down from the center of the oven. In a clean sink, open up the turkey package and remove all giblet packs, strings, and any other packets. Wash the turkey thoroughly inside and out, using warm water. Pat dry with paper towels. Tip: Wear disposable gloves for this, or be sure to wash your hands with warm water and soap after finishing. Pour 1 tbsp. salt into your hand. Vigorously rub the interior cavity of the turkey to coat with salt.
Use a second tbsp. to rub the back of the turkey. Use the third tbsp. to rub the breast of the turkey. Use the fourth tbsp. to make sure all areas are salted. Repeat the process with 1 tsp. of ground thyme on each part of the turkey.
Place the turkey in the bottom of the pot, breast side up. Stuff the turkey with the apple, limes, and cilantro.
Pour the wine into the side of the pot (not over the turkey). The wine should be about ½ inch deep in the pot. Tip: make sure you really like the wine. It will be a strong component of your gravy.
Add herbs to the drippings to taste. I like about a tsp each of dried rosemary and thyme. Set the temperature to medium low. Slowly add 1 tbsp arrowroot powder while whisking. Tip: I put the arrowroot in my left palm. While stirring with my right, I wiggle my left hand to allow the powder to slowly drop into the gravy.
Continue to heat, stir, and add arrowroot until the gravy is thickened. Add more white wine if needed for taste. Tip: You want the gravy to be heating just at or below a simmer. Adjust the heat accordingly.
I’ll be looking for comments below, or contact me at lisa [at] thecasabouquet[dot]com.