Morrison’s Cafeteria Deluxe Cornbread Pecan Dressing

Fall is here in Middle Tennessee and there is a chill in the air! The holidays are fast approaching, and it’s not too soon to be planning for Thanksgiving. I have made a variation of this stuffing every year for almost 40 years for family and friends.

The recipe is adapted from a Morrison’s Cafeteria recipe which had been a time honored classic in the south for many years. If you were born or raised in the south, there is a good chance that you have devoured it somewhere along the way with sliced turkey breast and gravy on top. Most likely Sunday’s after church.

Sadly, Morrison’s Cafeterias are now a thing of the past, (I think there may still be one in Mobile, Alabama owned by Piccadilly Cafeterias) but some of their recipes live on.

(Diners in Morrison’s Cafeteria in Tallahassee, Florida on November 15, 1984. Courtesy of the State Archives of Florida.)

The original recipe is for 120 servings, and on Sundays, we would quadruple the recipe at Morrison’s. On Thanksgiving, we prepare about 1000 servings! I have broken the recipe down to yield 10 servings.

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Photos from newspapers.com

Some of my most viewed blog posts have been adaptions of Morrison’s recipes, so I thought I would share another one with you. Below are the links to Custard Pie and Beef Stew.

https://kerrysfoodthymes.blog/2019/04/24/morrisons-cafeteria-custard-pie/

https://kerrysfoodthymes.blog/2019/06/28/morrisons-cafeteria-beef-stew/

Servings – 8-10

Cook/Prep time – about 3 hours (less if you cook and dry the cornbread the day before)

For the cornbread…

• 1 3/4 cups corn meal
• 1 1/2 cups milk or buttermilk
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp canola oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Mix all ingredients together and spread batter on a greased pan. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let it cool. If you are making the cornbread the day before, let it cool and dice into 1/2 “ cubes and let it dry overnight. If you are making it the same day, after dicing into cubes, put it back in a 175 degree oven for about an hour until good and dry. This will make more cornbread then you need. You can just eat the rest while it’s warm!

** if you are making the cornbread the day before, you can also dry the bread cubes, too.

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*** for a shortcut, you may use a cornbread mix, but don’t use a sweet one like Jiffy.

For the dressing….

• 1/4 lb dried bread cubes
• 1/2 lb dried cornbread cubes
• 4 cups chicken broth or stock
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 cup diced onions
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp salt (less if using salted broth)
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 boiled egg, chopped (optional)
• 1 tbsp cooked, diced chicken or turkey giblets (optional)

I never use the boiled egg or giblets, but the original recipe calls for them so I have listed them here.

Heat the canola oil in a skillet. Add the diced celery and onion and cook just a few minutes, removing from the heat while they are still firm. Let them cool.

Add the dried bread and cornbread to a mixing bowl. Pour the cooled chicken stock over them, stir and let them set for 20 minutes.

Add the cooled onion, celery and oil and mix together.

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Add the salt, pepper, chopped pecans and baking powder and mix well. Whisk the raw egg and blend it in. If you are adding the giblets and chopped boiled eggs, add them also and mix them in well.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add the mixture to a greased pan and place in the oven and cook for 45 to 60 minute until well browned.

Remove from oven and serve immediately!

That’s it! Enjoy!

Easy Cheesy Grilled Skirt Steak Pinwheels

If you like steak, cheese and spinach, (three of the main food groups) you will love these cheesy pinwheels! They are quick and easy to make and will impress your guests with their attractive display.

If you can’t find skirt steak, no worries! You can use flank steak. I prefer the skirt steak because it has a beefier taste to me.

Cook / Prep Time: about an hour

Servings : Two (about 4 pinwheels)

Special equipment needed: a meat mallet or tenderizer and some kitchen twine.

• 1 lb skirt steak
• 3 ounce baby spinach leaves, chopped
• Juice of one lemon
• 1 lg shallot, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 oz shaved or shredded parmesan
• 4 slices provolone cheese
• 1 sprig fresh basil leaves
• 1 tsp ground thyme
• Salt
• Pepper

Pound the skirt steak into a rectangle about 1/4” thick.

Season both sides with salt and pepper. Turn the skirt steak vertically on a counter. Mix the lemon juice and olive oil together and brush onto the beef. Sprinkle the thyme leaves on it. Spread the chopped shallots and garlic evenly onto the meat. Pinch the basil leaves and dot them over the shallots and garlic. Evenly spread the Parmesan cheese over it. Spread the chopped spinach over the parmesan cheese. Add the provolone slices evenly on top.

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Roll the meat up jelly roll style and it should look like this…

Cut 4 pieces of kitchen twine about 12” in length.

Tie them around the skirt roll and cut off the excess twine. Season with more salt and pepper if necessary. At this point, you can pop it in a 350 degree oven if you want and cook for about 30 minutes until desired doneness, or you can slice them and fry them or grill them. In my case, I grilled them.

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Place them on a hot grill and grill them for about 4 minutes on each side and them place them in a 350 degree oven for about another 6-7 minutes for medium rare. They will tend to be tough if well done or overcooked. Let them rest with tented aluminum foil over them for about 5 minutes and serve.

Enjoy!

Meatless Monday: Pan Fried Mozzarella Marinara

Just another meatless Monday… Who doesn’t love fried cheese? I sure do – especially with homemade marinara sauce – and it’s easy to prepare!

You can make it even easier if you use store bought marinara sauce! Just skip the steps to prepare the sauce.

Or if you want to use fresh tomatoes for the sauce, you can find my recipe for that here…

https://kerrysfoodthymes.blog/2019/09/05/homemade-marinara-sauce-using-fresh-tomatoes/

Cook/Prep Time – about an hour

Servings – 2

Ingredients:

For the Marinara sauce…

• 1 – 14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 small carrot
• 1 small celery rib
• 1 shallot
• 1 small bell pepper
• 2 large cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp fresh basil
• 1/4 cup dry red wine
• Salt
• Black pepper

For the Mozzarella….

• 3 – 1/4 inch slices of loaf mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup dry red wine
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp fresh basil
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup AP flour
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 cup panko
• 1 tbsp dried Italian seasoning
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1/4 cup canola oil (for frying the cheese)

For the sauce, finely chop the carrot, shallot, celery, pepper and garlic. Place the olive oil in a saucepan or Dutch oven on medium heat and add the chopped vegetables. Sauté while stirring for about 10 minutes. Add the red wine and cook another 5 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes and turn heat down to low. Chop the basil coarsely and stir it in. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer on low heat, stirring frequently for 30 minutes.

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While the marinara is simmering, prepare a cheese marinade by adding the olive oil, red wine, basil and crushed garlic and a dash of salt and pepper to a dish and add the sliced mozzarella and marinate for 15 minutes.

For the breading, whisk the egg and add the milk and stir together. Set up a breading station with a plate or dish of flour, and another with the panko mixed with the Italian seasoning.

Keeping one hand wet and one hand dry, grab a slice of cheese with your wet hand and place it in the flour and press the flour onto both sides with your dry hand. Place the floured slice into the egg wash and wet both sides with your wet hand. Remove the slice with your wet hand and place it in the panko mixture, pressing it onto both sides with your dry hand. Repeat the process with the rest of the slices.

Heat the canola oil in a skillet on medium heat. When the oil gets hot, fry the cheese slices until browned and flip and brown the other side. Remove from skillet and top with the hot marinara sauce. Serve with your choice of pasta. (I used pappardelle)

Enjoy!

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Suggested songs to listen to while preparing the goodness…..

How about Luciano Pavarotti‘s “Pavarotti: The Duets” released in 2008 featuring duets with Elton John, Eric Clapton, Mariah Carey, Sting, Frank Sinatra and others?

“Manic Monday” – written by Prince and made famous by the Bangles from their 1986 album Different Light. Just substitute the word “meatless” in place of “manic” while preparing this dish!

Meatless Monday French Onion Soup

OK – even this old carnivore can use a break from meat once in a while! This is a low cost rich French Onion soup that would be a great dish for a #meatlessmonday. This could also be made in the morning or the day before and and put in a slow cooker on warm to have a ready to eat meal when you get home….

Servings – about five 12 ounce bowls

Cook/Prep time – about two hours

Ingredients..

• 1 1/2 pounds sweet vidalia onions
• 1/2 pounds red onions
• 2 cloves fresh garlic
• 4 tbsp butter
• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 3 bay leaves
• 12 oz gruyere cheese (you may substitute Swiss or provolone)
• 1/2 loaf French or Italian bread
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• salt to taste if needed

• Note – for a richer version of this soup, you can substitute beef or chicken stock for the vegetable stock, but then technically the soup would not actually be meatless.

Peel the onions and slice them thin. I sliced some crosswise and some lengthwise. Melt the butter in a Dutch oven on medium low heat. Add sliced onions. Saute them, stirring frequently for 30 minutes.

Peel and chop the garlic and add to the onions. Turn the heat up to medium and add the sugar while stirring constantly. The sugar will help to caramelize the onions. Cook for about 30 more minutes until the onions are caramelized.

When the onions are browned well, add the wine and stir to deglaze the pan, about 5 minutes. Add the thyme, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce , black pepper and bay leaves. Turn heat down to low and simmer another 30 minutes. Taste to see if you need to add any salt. I did not need to add any. The soy sauce adds a salty flavor and the cheese also has a salty taste. While the soup is simmering, slice the bread. Mix the olive oil, Italian seasoning and onion powder together and brush both sides of the bread slices. At this point, you can leave the bread in slices or cut into chunks as croutons. Set oven to 450 and toast the slices or croutons until browned well.

Slice or shred the Gruyere cheese. Dish the soup into oven proof soup crocks. Set the bread slices or croutons on top of the soup and add the desired amount of cheese on top of the bread. Set oven to broil and place the crocks in the oven until the cheese is melted and browned well. Carefully pull the crocks out of the oven and serve.

If you would like to make the bread I used in this recipe, see my Easy Crusty No Knead Italian Bread post from February 8th.

Enjoy!

Suggested music for your listening pleasure to listen to while preparing this soup…..

“Green Onions” by Booker T & the M.G. ‘s from the album “Green Onions” released in September 1962.

“The Onion Song” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell from the album “Easy” released in October 1969.

“French Kissing” by Debbie Harry from the album “Rockford” released in November 1986.

“Vidalia” by Sammy Kershaw from his album “Politics, Religion and Her” released in July 1996.

Click the picture below to see soup crocks from Amazon.