Cornbread & Salad

Last night's menu - grilled chicken salad with a creamy dijon mustard dressing and homemade cornbread made in a cast iron skillet!  Previously I blogged about attempting to make cornbread in the cast iron skillet and it turned out seriously less than desirable - that is mainly because my father makes AWESOME cornbread and always has, so anything less than cornbread that tastes as good as his simply will not do.  Well I discovered the secret to amazing homemade cornbread ...

 'House Autry Yellow Self-Rising Corn Meal Mix'!  Now I have only ever been able to find this below the Mason-Dixon line (note the package says 'The Choice of Southern Cooks') so last time I was in Virginia I stocked up!  And even better the recipe is super simple!

Homemade Cornbread in a Cast Iron Skillet

1 cup 'House Autry' corn meal

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk 

(That's it y'all!)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees - coat the skillet with some oil and place in the oven (sans cornbread mix) - after the skillet is well heated remove from the over (use an oven mitt!) - pour the mixture into the skillet (by pouring the mixture into the skillet it gives the bread a crispy and delicious crust) - bake the bread for about 20 - 25 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

 Now, since (unfortunately) you cannot eat just cornbread for dinner I also made a grilled chicken salad - grill strips of chicken on a George Foreman grill and place it over salad, but I wanted to make a fun dressing so I found an awesome recipe a creamy dijon mustard sauce/dressing - which is also super simple!

Creamy Dijon Mustard Sauce/Dressing

1/4 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 heaping tablespoons dijon mustard

1 teaspoon tarragon

Heat the chicken broth - whisk in the cream - add the mustard and tarragon - bring to boil and then allow to simmer on low.  

(I ended up adding a little bit of flour to thicken the sauce since I planned on using it as a dressing.)  

This could easily be used as a dressing or sauce topping over rice, pasta or chicken!

  

Today I am "off" of work!  However it will be filled with laundry, appointments, DMV and possibly cleaning my old apartment - one day I will take a day off to do something fun!