Cooking with a dutch oven with cornbread and tempeh sausage recipe!

October Cooking Tool of the Month – Cast Iron

Today we have the final recipe of our cast iron cooking series! My roommate and I had a blast making cornbread in our backyard using a cast iron dutch oven. The weather was perfect and it was fun playing with my new camera! Oh maybe you didn’t hear. I got a Nikon D5100 to make better videos. I’m still learning how to use it but I hope you will enjoy the video! For some reason the colors are really vibrant. I’m not sure if that’s a setting on the camera or if that’s just how it films. If you have any tips for using this camera please let me know.

Have you ever used a dutch oven when camping? Matt shows us how it’s done! Camping dutch ovens are a little different that the ones you use on your stove. They have 3 legs, so you can prop it on a bed of coals, and the lid has a lip to hold coals in place on the top, creating your “oven” around it.

These recipes should work great inside the house using a normal oven and stove, but if you have a chance to make them while camping it will be some good eatin’ among the trees.

(please click through to the actual post to view video is viewing this on email)

Matt’s Dutch Oven Cornbread

Oil, for pan
1 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup corn meal
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/4 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup oil

Directions:
Preheat your dutch oven to 400 degrees F. Mix together the first 4 dry ingredients until well combined. Whisk together milk and vinegar until bubbly. Add this to dry ingredients along with the oil. Stir until well combined. Place oiled aluminum pie pan in dutch oven till it heats up to smoking point. Remove with towel or hot pads and pour in the cornbread mix. Smooth over the top and place back in dutch oven. Cover and bake for about 25-30 minutes. Do the toothpick test to test doneness.

If you want to get the top of the cornbread toasty, spread vegan butter on top and put the lid back on. Remove from charcoal and leave for 5 minutes. Remove cornbread, let cool slightly, cut and serve.

Tempeh Sausage Crumbles

High heat oil
1 (8 ounce) package tempeh, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon fennel
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Dash cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon tamari
1 teaspoon maple syrup

Directions:
Steam tempeh for 10 minutes. Cool and then crumble into a medium bowl.  Mix all remaining ingredients, except for oil, with tempeh until well combined. Heat enough oil to lightly coat the bottom of a medium skillet. When hot sprinkle tempeh onto the pan and spread evenly in one layer. Cook until browned then stir around, spread out again and cook on other side for a few minutes. Serve immediately.