Apparently, the debate has been raging between the North and South, and which region of the Eastern coast makes the best cornbread: Northern sweet vs. Southern savory.
I had no idea.
I like mine slightly sweet, with lots of butter in the batter for a rich texture and flavor. Sometimes, I’ll mix in bacon, scallions or jalapenos. And if there are leftovers, I make them into croutons for a fun alternative to the traditional bread variety.
The Boston Globe featured my recipe for cornbread in the food section yesterday. You can read more about the debate here.
How do you like your cornbread?
My Cornbread
Adapted from “Princess Pamela’s Soul Food Cookbook’’ and "The Blue Moon Cookbook"
Makes one 12-inch skillet Vegetable oil (for the skillet) 2 eggs, beaten to mix 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup buttermilk 1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon sugar 1 stick ( 1/2 cup) butter, melted
1. Set the oven at 400 degrees. Rub a heavy 12-inch cast-iron skillet with oil. Heat it in the oven for 5 minutes or until sizzling.
2. In a bowl, mix eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk.
3. In a larger bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add the egg mixture and combine with a few rapid strokes. Fold in melted butter.
4. Carefully remove the hot pan from the oven. Pour in batter. Bake for 20 minutes or until the top feels firm when pressed with a finger.
I thought I had just watered the ficus tree in the hallway, but when I looked at it this morning, the soil was bone-dry. I gave it a quart of water, but the water quickly raced to the bottom of the pot into the base plate. Within hours, the soil was dry again. It’s a miracle the plant is still alive.
I bought the ficus tree a few weeks after moving into my first Boston apartment. Like me, it’s had several homes in the last 15 years… moving into larger and larger pots. Its current home is a 5 gallon, ceramic planter.
The soil is depleted of nutrients and structure. After several years in the same pot without refreshing the soil, it can no longer hold water. The tree has sucked out every ounce of life from the soil. Sure, I can add fertilizer or plant food to the soil, but it won’t rebuild the soil to help it retain moisture and nutrients to slowly feed the roots.
The same type of soil erosion happens in our gardens and in our farm lands. Plants take the nutrients out of the soil to support their growth. And if we don’t replenish the soil, we can’t continue to grow healthy plants. Many commercial farmers (and home gardeners) opt for chemical fertilizers and amendments to add the nutrients back.
The chemical soil amendments give the requisite nitrogen and phosphorus, and commercial farmers can grow more corn and wheat. But unless the soil is regenerated, these fertilizers are like a crack addiction: the farmers must add more and more to get the same effect. And the sea-life becomes collateral damage. The run-off from these chemically treated fields in the corn belt of the US flows into the Gulf of Mexico, creating algae bloom, depleting oxygen levels in the water, and suffocating sea life. The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, where fish no longer survive, spans approximately 7,000 square miles.
A primary tenant of organic, sustainable farming is to maintain healthy soil so that it can regenerate itself without artificial enhancements, and without creating run-off that kills other plants or animals. We can amend our soil naturally, keeping its structure healthy so that we don’t need chemical fertilizers.
Organic and sustainable farming practices implement a variety of methods to maintain soil health: crop rotation, cover crops and compost. Cover crops, such as legumes and clover, are planted in off-seasons to replenish the soil naturally with nitrogen. For large-scale farmers this also would mean growing a variety of crops (and
not just miles and miles of corn), rotating the crops across different
plot of land, and letting the land lay fallow every several years.
Unfortunately, most commercial farmers do not do this, nor do government subsidies support this.
For the home gardener, compost offers another option.
Compost is decomposed organic matter, it can be animal scraps (or waste), vegetables or leaves. Compost looks like dirt and has no smell. It can be worked into existing soil to help replenish the nutrients and structure. My compost bin is a receptacle for food scraps, harnessing all the left-over nutrition to feed back into the ground.
Around my house, I have other natural sources of nitrogen. The spent coffee grounds are chock-full of nitrogen, as is the leftover ash from the charcoal grill. I sprinkle these all over the garden in the spring.
As for my ficus tree, I will take it out of its pot, add the old dirt to my compost bin and give it fresh soil.
Banana Bread
The banana peels get tossed into the compost bin. In a few months, I’ll have fresh soil for the garden (and my ficus tree). It also goes great with a cup of coffee.
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (or more all-purpose flour) 2 1/4 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 6 tbs. butter 2/3 cup sugar zest from 1 lemon 1 tsp. vanilla extract 2 eggs 5 bananas – to yield about 1 1/4 cup mashed pulp
Whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder.
In an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the lemon zest, vanilla, eggs and banana.
I have few memories of the year my family lived in Israel when I was 3-years old. But I remember the memories, and they have tinted the stories of my childhood when we were back in the States. The Passover story, recited every year at the Seders around the globe, tells of the Jews’ exodus from Egypt during the time of Pharoh. For most of my youth, I thought we were actually part of that exodus – and that’s why we were in Israel. And when my father served us camel-chini at dinner, instead of the usual zoo-chini, it made sense that we would eat that because we used to live in the Middle East.
When I returned to my garden after a week on the farm, I didn’t know what to expect. I forgot to follow the weather to see if it rained, though I believe the temperatures were a scorching 90+ for several days. Would the tomatoes wither from the blight? Would I finally have zucchini? And would my tiny little lettuce seedlings that I planted the week before survive?
I had two zucchinis the size of baseball bats. Maybe these were the storied camel-chini of my youth? I immediately sliced up the first for that night’s dinner. It was tough and woody – not pleasing at all. With all sorts of zucchini breadrecipes popping up all over the blog-o-sphere, I realized that grating was the only way to combat the texture.
Yesterday, I tore out the zucchini plant. While I had hopes of a bumper crop, I only harvested those two overgrown specimens. And I’ve come to realize this happens because of where I planted the seeds. I’m so concerned about overgrown plants, peddling zucchini plants on my street, that I plant them in the least sunny patch of the garden. And with the torrential rains this summer, I discovered that location also gets the most run-off. If I’m to plant zucchini again, I need to commit to a sunnier location.
2 to 2 1/2 cups shredded zucchini 1 cup vegetable oil 3 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 2 cups sugar 3 cups all purpose flour 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 1 tsp cinnamon
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray two 9? x 5? bread pans with nonstick spray.
In a large mixing bowl, combine zucchini, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Mix thoroughly. Beat sugar into mix until it is thoroughly creamed.
Once liquids and sugar are well mixed, add flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Mix until batter is well blended and even in texture. The batter should be smooth, outside the zucchini shreds. If it’s not, add a little juice from the zucchini. Pour batter evenly into pans.
Bake for approximately 1 hour, or until bread is brown and springs back when gently pressed in the middle.
When I travel abroad, I like to buy cookbooks that feature the local cuisine. Usually, they're unavailable in the US. And especially with the books purchased in Asia, they have not been tailored to the “western kitchen.” True or not, I think the recipes will be more authentic to the region. And I feel confident enough in both my cooking skills and ability to find the unusual ingredients in the Boston markets that I am unfettered by these recipes.
Thanks to the magic of the internet, Wendy Hutton's books are now available in the US. Her recipe for tandoori chicken is exceptional in flavor and tastes as good as anything I’ve eaten in a restaurant. I use this recipe for both lamb and chicken.
Mine little resembles in appearance the restaurant version since I don’t use food coloring and leave on the marinade when I cook it. I love the flavor of the marinade roasted in the butter and chicken juices, and could easily make a meal of those drippings slathered on naan. Since I don’t have a tandoori oven at home (and who does??), I cook it in a cast iron skillet on the charcoal grill outside. I was less pleased with her naan recipe and use the one from Stonyfield Farms that comes courtesy of Peter Franklin.
1 chicken, about 2 lbs. 1 tbs. melted butter or ghee
Marinade 1 1 tsp. salt ½ tsp. turmeric ½ tsp. chili powder ¼ tsp. white pepper pinch cloves 1 tsp. crushed garlic 1 ½ tbs. lemon juice
Marinade 2 4 tbs. plain yogurt 1 heaping tbs. cilantro, pounded 1 heaping tbs. mint, pounded 1 tbs. cumin ½ tsp. salt 1 tsp. crushed fresh ginger 1 tsp. white vinegar ¼ tsp. cinnamon 1/3 tsp. cardamom few drops of red food coloring (opt.)
1. Remove feet, head and skin from the chicken and make deep cuts in the thighs and breasts. Combine all ingredients for marinade 1 and rub well into the chicken. Leave in the refrigerator for 3 hours.
2. Combine ingredients for marinade 2 and rub evenly all over the chicken, making sure some of the marinade penetrates the slits. Leave in refrigerator for at least 6 hours.
3. Brush grill with ghee or butter and cook chicken over hot coals, brushing from time to time.
Yogurt Flatbread (Naan) 1 cup warm water 1 packet dry, active yeast 1 cup Stonyfield plain yogurt 2 teaspoons salt 5-6 cups all purpose flour 4 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
1. In a large mixing bowl, or in the bowl of an electric mixer (i.e. Kitchen Aid), combine the water, yogurt and butter, and yeast. Mix well and let sit for 5 minutes. 2. Mix together the salt and flour, and gradually add to the liquids. If the dough becomes too stiff to mix, add a bit of warm water, 1 tbs. at a time. Knead by hand for 5-6 minutes, until dough is smooth and shiny. 3. Place the dough in a clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest at room temperature for +/- 20 minutes. 4. Portion dough into 2 ounce pieces, and roll very thin (tortilla like thickness) with a rolling pin. Layer rolled-out pieces on flour dusted parchment or waxed paper until ready to cook. 5. The Naan may be cooked in a skillet (cast iron is best…heat to medium high heat, ungreased) or even on a barbecue grill. Cook about 2 minutes per side, or until desired level of doneness. Dough will bubble and rise a bit as it cooks. This is normal. 6. Serve warm.
I woke up the other day with a phantom scent of Challah in the air – that sweet, yeasty aroma. And while drinking my coffee, I could practically taste it. Have you ever had that feeling before? I have… it was a few months ago when I was visiting the farm. Lucky for me, Brett had all the ingredients in the pantry: bread flour, yeast, oil and sugar. Eggs were out in the chicken coup. The two loaves of challah had barely come out of the oven before I began tearing into. I pretended to have made only one loaf because when Brett and Chris returned, that’s all that was left. It was so, so good that when I got home, I immediately stocked my pantry with bread flour and yeast.
Challah is not an easy craving to satisfy quickly. The dough itself only takes about 20 minutes to pull together, but then it must rise twice: first in a big mass of dough and then a second rising after the loaves are formed.
My patience paid off…. And those aromas wafting through my house are real. Mmmm….
Challah 1 package dry yeast 3 ½ cups bread flour ½ cup oil ¾ cup warm water 1 tsp. salt ¼ cup sugar 3 eggs Poppy or sesame seeds
Combine water, yeast and ½ cup of flour in a mixing bowl (use the bowl of a kitchen aid if you have one). Mix to combine. Let sit for 20 minutes or until the slurry gets frothy.
Meanwhile, combine the oil, 2 eggs, sugar and salt. Add this to the flour/water/yeast mix and combine. Add the remaining flour and knead in a machine with a dough hook (10 minutes) or by hand (15 minutes).
Let rise for 4 hours on the counter, covered with plastic wrap, or in the refrigerator.
Divide the dough into 8 balls and roll out into strands. Make two loaves with 4 strands each. For tips on braiding challah, go here. You can also watch YouTube videos. My mnemonic device is "over two, under one."
Make an egg wash with the remaining egg, and brush on top of the loaves. Sprinkle with seeds on top. Let rise for 1 hour.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Ideally, you should let it cool before eating, but you don’t have to.
, via 
are now available in the US. Her recipe for tandoori chicken is exceptional in flavor and tastes as good as anything I’ve eaten in a restaurant. I use this recipe for both lamb and chicken.