Sometimes you just need good old fashioned comfort food, there are so many classics and one is Toad in the Hole, this Cornbread version is sooooo good and ridiculously easy to make, perfect if you are one of those people that struggle with getting your batter to rise !!!

Cornbread is such a good comfort food https://www.gelsominascucina.com/2013/12/chilli-beef-cornbread-pie.html used here as a topping for this Chilli Beef dish it is a perfect dish for a cold winters day and you could also top this recipe with cheese like in the recipe above.

I first fell in love with Cornbread at the restaurant Wahaca, served with whipped goats cheese and drizzled with honey I was addicted from my very first bite, unfortunately they no longer have it on their menu, which is such a shame, but I always check in the hope that one day it will return.

Today I thought I would get this recipe onto the blog because, one I didn’t want to lose it and two I thought you might all be getting bored with vegan recipes and cake recipes !!! I thought you might need something savoury for a change.

I used vegan sausages for this, but any good sausages would do, a lovely herbed sausage would work well and I am going to play around with this recipe and try grilled Mediterranean vegetables instead of sausages, and I will be making it plain to serve with whipped goats cheese and honey to see if I can recreate the delicious Wahaca recipe.

So I hope you have all had a lovely weekend and have a very happy week.

Love Di 💋

2 x 400g packs of British free-range pork sausages

2 onions, sliced into wedges

Few fresh thyme sprigs

1 tbsp olive oil

150g polenta

1 tsp caster sugar

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

170g plain flour

1½ tsp baking powder

284ml buttermilk

1 large free-range egg

25g unsalted butter

Heat the oven to 220C/200C fan/Gas 7.

Put the sausages and onions in a 23cm ovenproof frying pan. Season and add a few sprigs of fresh thyme and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Bake for 10 minutes. As you can see from the photos I used a square Pyrex dish as I didn’t have a Frying Pan that would fit into my oven, but it worked well.

Mix the polenta, caster sugar, bicarbonate of soda, plain flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Add the buttermilk and egg and, using a wooden spoon, beat until smooth.

Remove the sausages and onions from the pan and melt the unsalted butter in it. Add most of the polenta mix, then top with the sausages and onions, browned-side down. Spoon over the rest of the mix and bake for 20-25 minutes. 

Serve on its own, scattered with fresh thyme, or with a fresh tomato pasta sauce.

Note : I have just reheated some for a quick lunch, served with plain yoghurt (as I didn’t have any goats cheese) and drizzled with lots of Thyme Honey, it was absolutely delicious.

Chilli Beef Cornbread Pie