Layered Southwestern Cornbread Salad

I posted this picture on Facebook and Instagram recently and had a number of people ask for the recipe. I'm sorry, I completely forgot....until now. It is so delicious! It is time consuming to make but it's well worth it and I will warn you that this is a huge recipe so you might want to shave it down if you don't have a huge crowd to feed. We were 8 adults and a few kids with this picture and we barely ate half.

For the spicy ranch dressing: 1 [1.0 oz] package of Spicy Ranch dressing mix
1 1/3 cups milk/buttermilk
1 cup mayonnaise
For the pico de gallo:
6 medium Roma tomatoes
1 medium purple onion
1 medium jalapeno pepper
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 Tbsp lime juice
garlic salt and black pepper to taste
For the salad:
1 [7.5 oz] box cornbread mix plus ingredients to prepare
2 [12 oz] pkgs frozen Southwestern Corn [such as Steamfresh] OR 2 [11 oz] cans Mexi-Corn
1 [15 oz] can black beans, drained & rinsed
2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
8 oz shredded iceberg lettuce
12 oz. bacon cooked, crumbled & cooled
1/2 cup sour cream [for the top]

Directions:
Prepare the cornbread per the instructions on the package and cool.  Divide into thirds.  Prepare the dressing using 1 1/3 cup of milk/buttermilk and 1 cup of mayo, then chill until assembling the salad.  This is slightly more milk than called for on the package, but, I prefer the dressing a little thinner for this salad.

To prepare the pico de gallo, dice the tomatoes, onion, and jalapeno pepper.  If you like your salsa super spicy, leave the seeds in the jalapeno, otherwise, use a teaspoon and remove them.  Always wash your hands well after handling hot peppers.  Add to a bowl, and toss with the chopped cilantro, lime juice and seasonings.  If making ahead, place into the fridge and chill until you assemble.  If you're using canned corn, drain the Mexican corn and black beans, and rinse  the beans thoroughly.  Mix together.  If you're using frozen corn, cook according to the package directions and cool before tossing with the black beans.

To assemble the salad, I use a clear bowl, simply because the colors are so pretty, it adds to the presentation.  Gather all of your ingredients to help the layering process move along smoothly.
Divide the ingredients into thirds.  Layer in this order...shredded lettuce, crumbled cornbread,  bacon,  Mexican corn and black beans, pico de gallo, dressing and shredded cheese.  Repeat until all of the ingredients are used.
For the top, I reserve some of the pico de gallo, bacon crumbles, and cheese to garnish.  So, theoretically, there are four layers of pico, bacon and cheese in my salad, but, whose counting?

Refrigerate for several hours, or preferably overnight to allow the flavors to come together before serving.  Yield:  12-14 servings
Note: This is the original recipe, unaltered. Because a couple of the items are not readily available to me (because we don't live in the South where this recipe originated), I compromised with some of the ingredients and made it my own. For instance, instead of making my own dressing, I purchased already made Hidden Valley Spicy Ranch in a bottle, and mixed a bit of salsa with my canned corn to replace the Mexi-corn. I am fortunate that we bring boxed Jiffy Cornbread Mix home with us whenever we travel to the US, but since many of you won't have access to that, I'd find a good cornbread recipe online and make it from scratch. Cornbread is key in this recipe and shouldn't be skipped.

Enjoy!!

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