This savory and slightly sweet cornbread dressing is a delicious blend of browned butter, sauteed onions and fried sage. A delicious side for a holiday meal or any time of the year!
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Grease 2, 9 inch round cake pans with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder.
Stir in the beaten eggs, milk, and oil until well combined.
Pour batter evenly into prepared pans.
Bake in preheated oven for about 22 minutes, until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
While the cornbread cools, start the dressing.
Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
In a large skillet on medium heat, melt 4 tablespoons of butter. Add the diced onions. Cook until light golden brown, stirring every couple of minutes, for about 10 - 12 minutes. Remove onions from skillet into a small bowl and set aside.
Keep skillet on medium heat and add 1 cup chicken stock, scrape any browned bits of onion from the skillet and simmer the stock for a few minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
Get a very large bowl and break up your cornbread by hand into bite size pieces.
Melt 12 tablespoons of butter in a large pan over medium - medium high heat. If necessary, be sure to trim the sage leaves from larger stems while butter is melting. Let the butter bubble until the solids are just turning golden.
Add the sage leaves to the melted butter to fry them until just beginning to crisp. Remove the leaves with a slotted spoon and place on top of the crumbled cornbread to drain. (If substituting 1 T. dried sage for fresh leaves, add to melted butter and let butter simmer until lightly browned) Remove pan from heat and set aside.
In the very large bowl of crumbled cornbread and sage leaves, add the beaten eggs and cooked onions. Pour the browned butter over the mixture. Season with salt and black pepper. Stir with large spoon to combine.
Now pour the stock from the skillet over the mixture and stir to combine. The mixture should be quite moist, but not soggy. If it appears too dry, you can add a splash of stock, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the mixture 'holds its shape' when pressed with a spoon.
Spoon the mixture into the lightly greased, 9 x 13 inch baking dish and bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes until light golden brown.