Sausage Studded Cornbread

Seamus's brother has a strange obsession with using cast iron skillets. He has been talking about his cast-iron skillet forever, and about a year ago gave us one as a gift. Neither Seamus or I knew how to use a cast iron skillet, so we stuck it in the bottom of our drawer where it promptly began to rust.

My friend Nazo invited me over for brunch this morning, and I thought it might be fun to take out the old cast iron skillet, give it a good clean, and try to make some cornbread using a recipe from a cookbook my mother gave me for Christmas. While the cornbread is slightly bland (I think I will add jalapenos next time), I think it was a good first attempt at using our cast iron skillet. 

Sausage-Studded Cornbread

Courtesy of "Sunday Brunch" by Betty Rosbottom

Ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable oil, plus 4 tsp

6 oz andoullie sausage or chorizo (I used turkey breakfast sausage), cut into small pieces

2 eggs

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 cup yellow cornmeal

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1. Arrange a rack at center position and preheat the oven to 450 degrees. 

2. Heat 2 tbsp of vegetable oil until hot in a cast iron skillet; add the sausage and saute until lightly browned, drain on paper towels.

3. When the frying pan is cool enough, wipe it out with paper towels. Add the remaining oil to the frying pan and heat for 2 to 3 minutes, just enough to heat the oil. Remove the frying pan from heat and set aside. 

4. Whisk the eggs and buttermilk in a large mixing bowl. Whisk in the cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Pour the oil from the frying pan into the batter and mix well. Pour the batter into the frying pan and sprinkle the cooked sausage evenly over it. 

5. Bake the cornbread until it is golden brown on top and firm to the touch. When done, remove the cornbread and let it cool.  Enjoy!