This is meant for comfort while satisfying the taste of a complete wholesome meal.
Cottage pie is made with beef–I’m going for hog. Fat hog. Good wholesome living from farm-fed ham for a good meal at suppertime.
Cottage pie is made also with creamy leftover mashed potatoes over the top of a beef stew or any combination of vegetables–as long as there’s beef in the rubbish of grub. I shall be and will be absolutely contrary–I’m putting leftover ham in my dish of food that I’m making sure gets used instead of forgotten in the freezer. I go against all rules! Therefore my plan is moist cornbread, making it Cornbread Cottage Pie, omitting the beef in exchange for fatty ham–rind and all…
Lentils slow-cooked with a moisture of vegetables, broth, and meat will refine to a mushy state for a texture of cottage pie that is like refried beans for its dish base.
Line the bottom of a roasting pan with 2 pounds dried lentils.
Set a ham bone in the center–with plenty of meat and fat attached to the bone for tremendous flavor.
Soften and lightly color onion and hot peppers in butter. I love cherry peppers.
Add salt.
Stir some green chilies into the skillet.
Scrape everything from the skillet over the ham, including the melted butter.
Dust with an entire package of taco seasoning. Leave it, don’t mix with a utensil to distribute.
Add 1 can drained Ro-tel or any other brand of spicy tomatoes.
Chop and add three-fourths of a head of cabbage, for a large; 1 whole cabbage for a small one. In a corner of the roaster, so that the seasonings remain over the ham, pour chicken or beef broth–32 ounces, or close to that amount. Cover the roaster with the lid or aluminum foil and bake at 325 degrees until all the liquid is soaked into the lentils.
You can either bake the cornbread over this when it’s close to being completely done or you can take it from the oven, cool it, and bake cornbread over it the next day--my preference and recommendation. Everything tastes better the next day for this.
For a moist cornbread, blend 2 cups stone-ground cornmeal and 2 cups all-purpose flour. Add 2 teaspoons baking powder, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 2 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt, and 1 tablespoon sugar.
Combine 2 cups whole milk and 2 tablespoons white vinegar. Whisk into 6 large eggs. Let set for 10-15 minutes.
Add milk and egg mixture to the batter along with 1 can cream-style corn, 1 can drained whole-kernel corn, and 1 1/4 cups grated Mexican-blend cheese.
In 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, lightly brown half of a large onion.
Pick the ham off the bone and evenly stir the contents. Cut up any large pieces into bite-size chunks. I’m including the rind.
Add the cooled onions and butter from the skillet into the cornbread batter.
Butter 2 casserole dishes and fill with the ham-vegetable filling. Spoon the wet cornbread mixture over the filling. The cornbread recipe is enough for an extra pan of just cornbread for butter! This is for a total of 3 cottage pies or 2 cottage pies with a pan of cornbread while freezing the remainder if you so please.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes.
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