Green Chile Cheese Cornbread

It's the end of the garden season here, except for the heartiest of veggies. I picked the last of the green chiles, a mixed bag of Hungarian sweet, mild and medium Mexican chiles. They are small, so not worthy of roasting. I sautéed them in a little bit of oil and waited from some inspiration to strike.

Green chile cheese cornbread!

I used to get cheesy green chile grits on ski trips. A friend from Alabama with a taste for spicy introduced me to them. They were rich! This isn't so rich, but it brings in many of the same flavors. You could even make it with roasted red or green peppers. Not spicy at all but very delicious. It's a tasty way to get a little bit of vegetables into your cornbread and it goes well with School of Eating Good cauliflower-leek soup.

Green Chile Cheese Cornbread
(makes 9 servings)

non-stick cooking spray for pan
¼ cup vegetable oil or melted butter
1 egg
1 cup + 1 Tablespoon milk
¼ cup plain lowfat yogurt
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
2 ¾ teaspoons baking powder(see Note)
⅛ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup grated Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
½ cup roasted or sautéed peppers, diced

Preheat oven to 425°F. Spray an 8"x8" baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together vegetable oil, egg, milk, yogurt, and sugar. In a small bowl, mix together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix only enough to moisten all dry ingredients. Stir in cheese and peppers. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes. Test with a toothpick; if wet batter sticks to it, bake another few minutes. But, cake is moist even when done and 25 minutes should be enough. Allow to cool, and cut into 9 servings.

Because the cake is so moist, it does not keep well at room temperature. If you don't plan to eat it all within 24 hours, freeze it. It freezes beautifully if you wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, then place in a plastic bag.

Note: this recipe was tested at 5300 ft. If you live near sea level, like most people, reduce milk to 1 cup, and use 1 Tablespoon of baking powder.

Adapted from a basic cornbread in Pie in the Sky by Susan G. Prudy, William Morrow, 2005.

Easy Cornbread

Cornbread is a great accompaniment to soup or chili. And since soup/chili season is now upon us in Colorado, it's a good time for another cornbread recipe. The previous cornbread recipe is a more Northern interpretation, as it is quite sweet and cake-like. This is a more Southern version because it contains less sugar and a lot less white flour. Truly Southern cornbread has very little sugar - 1 teaspoon - and no white flour at all. Maybe this is a Maryland cornbread, baked somewhere between New York and Mississippi.

You can bake this in a 9" cake pan or a 9" cast iron skillet. The cast iron skillet will get you a crispier crust, which is the way I prefer it. But, a cake pan will work too.

This cornbread comes together quickly with pantry ingredients making is an easy dish for a weeknight dinner.

Cornbread in the Round
(serves 6-8; costs $2.15)

non-stick cooking spray
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder (use 5 teaspoons if baking at sea level)
¼ teaspoon salt
1 large egg
¼ cup honey
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup milk (skim, low fat, whole or a combination)

Preheat oven to 350°F. If using a cast iron pan, place in the oven to get it hot; this will result in a crispier crust. If using a cake pan, spray with cooking spray and set aside.

Whisk together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat together egg, honey, and oil with a whisk or electric mixer until well combined. Add milk and beat again. With a spatula, mix in dry ingredients until just combined. It's OK if there are still some lumps.

If using the cast iron pan, remove from the oven and spray with cooking spray. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cut into 6-8 wedges and serve. Can be stored at room temperature for up to 24 hours. After that, store in the refrigerator. To reheat, split in half lengthwise and toast.

Adapted from The New Dr. Cookie Cookbook by Dr. Wayne & Dr. Yarnall, William Morrow and Company, 1994.

Making Cooking Easy: Don't think like a Chef

Bananas, December 2006 by photographer Steve Hopson (from WikiCommons).

One of the best bits of advice I can give to people just getting the hang of this cooking thing is "Don't get too ambitious." Chefs create new recipes and wing it a lot. This is skill that most people do not have, certainly not if they are learning to cook. We all need to eat and if cooking stands in the way of eating, you'll get frustrated and seek out that quick, easy, and nutritionally bereft convenience food. That's why I suggest that beginning cooks get a set of basic recipes that they like and make them a lot. Variety may be the spice of life, but trying new recipes all the time is hard work. I have a culinary degree and I try new recipes nearly every day so I have plenty of experience here. You don't know if they will work. You have to constantly check the recipe to see what ingredients you need next, what steps you need to do next. If you have a limited number of go-to recipes that you know like the back of your hand, you can almost execute them in your sleep. This makes getting a meal on the table so much easier.

Don't be seduced by the gazillion recipes out there. Sure, try a new one when you have the leisure to do it. It will take a little while to build a repertoire of recipes (and you'll be building your cooking skills at the same time). But once you have that list of standards, for most of your meals, stick to the tried and true. For lots of folks, the familiar makes them feel good, which means that cooking the same thing a bunch of times is a source of security. Or just plain easy.

I don't happen to be one of those people. And, that's why I keep trying new recipes. New recipes that you know will work for you, the first time and every other time you try them. Keep checking back here. I'll keep giving you new ones, if you need a change in your routine.

Here's a recipe I have made a bunch of times because it is one hearty loaf of banana bread. It's a whole grain version. You'll need to find whole wheat pastry flour, which makes it lighter than all regular whole wheat flour. You can often find it in the bulk aisle of supermarkets (bulk is very economical) and in stores that specialize in natural foods like Whole Foods and Sprouts. Bob's Red Mill produces a huge array of flours including a whole wheat pastry flour and Bob's Red Mill products are available nationally.

Unlike a lot of banana bread recipes, this one uses a lot of bananas. They need to be ripe or even overripe (the skin is all brown). You can buy a bunch especially for making this bread, or you can stash overripe bananas in a bag in your freezer and make it when you collect six of them. Thaw frozen bananas before beginning.

Banana Bread
(serves 10)

⅓ cup honey
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 6)
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 ½ cups regular whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder (1 ½ teaspoons if at Boulder altitude)
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup chopped dried apricots (see Note)
½ cup toasted chopped nuts (I like pecans but walnuts or almonds are good too)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 8"x4" loaf pan.

Beat together the honey, vegetable oil, and vanilla in a large bowl. Mix in the bananas and lemon juice. Sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl. Mix the dry ingredients into the bananas, only mixing enough to moisten all the flour. Gently mix in the apricots and nuts. Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for at least an hour, up to an hour and a half, until a toothpick comes out clean. Because this bread bakes so long and the bananas have a lot of sugar, it can over-brown. If the top is getting very dark, reduce the oven to 325°F for the rest of baking.

Allow to cool completely before trying to slice it.

Note: Dried apricots are very sticky when warm which makes them hard to chop. They won't stick to your knife if you put them in the freezer for 30 minutes before trying to chop them.