Alias Grandmom’s Cornbread with Value Added

Our new favorite cornbread recipe came accidentally.  Unless you’re one of  ten million plus Instagram followers of a certain famous actress  you may not have seen it.  Sorry to say I am not a follower either but the recipe caught my eye on some foodie site.  It’s baked in a preheated cast iron pan in a similar style to the no knead bread I’ve been baking.  And besides being delicious it takes about 25 minutes from start to finish.

It has a different spongy texture and needs no butter or honey.  It’s great right out of the pan and is unlike  the cakey-style cornbread I’m used to making which begs for a smear of butter and honey, if so desired.

Recipe

2 Tbl. Olive Oil

3/4 cup  cornmeal

1/4 c. flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. sugar, optional

1/2 tsp. salt

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup  fresh blueberries, or frozen (thawed and drained)

1 10″ Cast Iron Frying Pan

Put the 2 T. oil in the cast iron frying pan, place in a cold oven and preheat to 450 degrees.  This should take about 15 minutes.  Meanwhile mix your dry ingredients.  Whisk the egg and the buttermilk together – a fork works fine.  Add to the dry ingredients, mixing well, and set next to the stove.  As soon as your oven reaches the 450 mark carefully, using your hot mitts, remove pan from oven and pour hot oil into your batter.  (Make sure you have a place on the stove to set the hot pan.)  Quickly mix and scrape batter  into hot pan.  Sprinkle blueberries on top and place back in the hot oven for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes before cutting. It goes especially well with a bowl of beans or soup.  Serves about 4 people but Noel & I managed to finish it off ourselves!