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Recipe of the Month

Pro Tips: Cornbread Panzanella

By: Lodge Cast Iron / June 23, 2023

July’s Recipe of the Month is Cornbread Panzanella & Peach Browned Butter, served in our USA Enamel™ 3 quart dutch oven and made with an assist from our cast iron pizza pan. This bread-based salad is a breeze to put together and a great way to use leftover hunks of Lodge Skillet Cornbread. Check out a few tips from Chef Kris to help bring this salad to your next picnic—and level up your cooking skills.

Cornbread Panzanella
Tomatoes

Pro Tip 1

Reach for the peeler

Peaches are notoriously fussy when it comes to peeling. Use a vegetable peeler to remove the skins quickly, just like with your potatoes or carrots. If the peaches are particularly ripe, you can also score them with an X, then blanch them in boiling water for 30 seconds and transfer to an ice bath before removing the skins.

Pro Tip 2

Save your cornbread

Leftover cornbread can be the start of a fresh new meal: if you have cornbread left in the skillet, save it for a panzanella. You can even freeze bits over a few weeks and then bring them all together for one final toasting before assembling your salad.

Pro Tip 3

Cast iron was made to bake

Don’t have a pizza pan? Use any piece of cast iron cookware with a large cooking surface—this goes for panzanella and really for any baking project. We’ve been known to make cookies on our pizza pan and pizzas in our skillets. Moral of the story: get creative and use what you have on hand.

Panzanella in the pot

Pro Tip 4

Brown your butter in a light-colored vessel

Great browned butter will tell you it's done when it smells nutty and starts to change color. For that reason, we make ours in a USA Enamel dutch oven, with a light colored cooking surface that helps us monitor the doneness of our butter dressing.

Pro Tip 5

Serve from your dutch oven

The beauty of enameled cast iron is that you can cook from it, but also serve and store (it’s even fridge safe). We especially love to make this cornbread panzanella at home, put a lid on it, and then head to the potluck with our dutch oven in tow.

Pro Tip 6

Save extra browned butter

The leftover browned butter in this recipe is perfect on vanilla ice cream or popcorn. This stuff is liquid gold. That’s it. That’s the pro tip. Enjoy!

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Contributed By: Lodge Cast Iron

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