Comfort Food Hybrid: Southern Cornbread Dressing, Pork Chops with English Mustard Cream Sauce, and Mustard Greens

I know this seems like such a weird combination, but it is sooooo tasty! To me this is comfort food.  The Southern cornbread dressing is based off of my Paternal grandmother's (born in Mississippi) recipe that I had every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter growing up. Hers always had a strong celery taste, was very moist, and had no meat. For those of you not familiar with Southern Dressing, it is basically a very moist twice baked cornbread pudding that is never stuffed inside a bird. Paula Deen's recipe for dressing is also very good, but to me this one is better. My Maternal grandmother was born in Tennessee, but her dressing uses dried Pepperidge Farm cornbread and herb seasoned white stuffing mixes. Still tasty to me, but the other one is my favorite. The mustard sauce is based off of sauces I tasted in English pubs that were served with boiled veggies and pork roasts. It is also based off of a recipe I tasted at the Chophouse in Knoxville Tennessee, it was pork chops over stuffing with mustard sauce.  Mustard greens were a request by my fiancé. I must admit that it is almost blasphemous that as a Southern Gal, I am not the biggest fan of greens (Collard, Turnip, and Mustard), though since my sweetie is..... I kindly make them. He says they are awesome so I will just have to take his word for on this one. I eat them because I know they are good for me, but I don't particularly enjoy them and never get a craving for them.

SOUTHERN CORNBREAD DRESSING

2 cornbread pans (I used white lily self rising white cornbread and made the way the back suggested with buttermilk, I don't add sugar though), Crumble up the cooked and cooled cornbread

2 yellow onions, chopped small

1/2 package celery, chopped small

4 cups or more (1 Swanson carton) of chicken broth

1 tsp. or more of poultry seasoning

3 eggs beaten

1/2 stick butter

I admit that usually when I make this I just go by sight and smell for how much chicken broth and seasoning I use. I tried to measure what I used this time but adjust it as you need.  The trick is to get the crumbled cornbread and veg mixture to a very moist consistency but not soupy.  I aim for a cooked cheesy grit quality if that makes sense.  Cook and cool your two cornbread pans and crumble up the cornbread in a very large bowl.  In the meantime, sauté the onions and celery with the butter in a medium to large sauté pan until they are very tender but not caramelizing, this part took me about 15 minutes. Stir constantly. Combine cornbread, cooled onions/celery, chicken stock, and three beaten eggs together until combined.  Butter large glass Pyrex casserole dish.  Spread mixture evenly into it and pat down the top.  Bake at 350* for 1 hour or until golden brown and set up.  I'm sure you see tons of different recipes online for this and they may have much better instructions than mine. This is just one of those things that I was taught to make and never really thought about how I made it. This freezes and keeps well.

PORK CHOPS WITH ENGLISH MUSTARD CREAM SAUCE

1 package thin pork chops or boneless pork cutlets

2 cups heavy whipping cream (use fat free if you can find it)

1 heaping tablespoon powdered mustard (English or Canadian)

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon flour

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 teaspoon Cavenders Greek seasoning

Juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup chopped green onion (5-6)

salt and cracked  black pepper to taste

Use Cavender's or salt and pepper liberally the pork on both sides, sauté each side for several minutes until you have cooked the pork through all the way, set aside and let it rest.  Make the mustard sauce by starting off melting butter in a small sauce pan.  Add the flour and make a roux stirring constantly for a few minutes.  Add the rest of the ingredients and let it come to a simmer, whisking constantly to completely combine.  Taste test and see if you think it needs more sugar, salt or pepper.  Serve over the pork.  If you don't eat pork, this would taste equally good poured over grilled chicken. 

MUSTARD GREENS

1 large bag washed mustard greens, I use glory brand just because I don't like the washing and chopping of the greens

3 strips bacon

1 onion

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 tsp sugar

2 cups water

salt and pepper to taste

Like I said, I am soooo not the best authority on Southern greens but my fiancé loves the way I fix them so here goes.... Stir fry the bacon and onion together until the bacon is cooked through and the onions are translucent, all the rest of the ingredients except the vinegar and cook for 20 minutes with the lid on stirring every now and then. Some people like to eat them just barely wilted and other like to cook for a VERY LONG TIME! You will be surprised how quickly they cook down if you have never made them yourself.  Something that starts off as 20 cups worth of greens ends up being like 6 cups worth. If you feel you are a Southern greens aficionado I welcome your recipes and critiques of my version! My fiancé would be very happy if I had new recipes to try! 

Making this meal reminded me of one of my favorite dinner parties that I threw was in undergrad. It was for four of my fiancé's Japanese exchange friends.  They had never had southern food before and never even heard of the items.  It was sooo much fun to tell them about each dish and how that is our comfort food. I don't remember everything I had made, but I know there was pork chops and biscuits, greens, beans, and jiffy sweet yellow cornbread. Even though I know jiffy isn't technically southern, it ended up being their favorite item because they said it was like dessert! All of them said they were buying several of the boxes to take home to their families in Japan. Still can't believe that stuff is like $.33 a box!