Southern Comfort

My boyfriend lived in Florida for 2 years and to say southern food made an impression on him would be an enormous understatement.  We had a debate for at least a year about fried chicken before I would dare even make mine for him (although he swears up and down it ranks as the best he’s ever had!) and don’t ever try to get between that man and some pulled pork so help you God. So today, when I had little to do besides turn yesterdays braised beef into a brisket chilli of sorts I thought I do up some cornbread too.

Don’t be deceived while it’s baking. It will get quite dark on the outside and you might be worried but don’t. You get a beautiful crispy outside and a wonderful moist interior. You might also be alarmed at the amount of  butter in it and if you are such a person I bet you could substitute at least half of the butter for milk and it would still be darn good. But, I love butter and I love cornbread so there you have it

It’s not an overly sweet cornbread which I like and I usually throw in scallions and cilantro and cheddar cheese into it. The cheddar makes it moister the next day and the best part about cornbread might be the next day toasted with poached eggs on top.

Claire’s Cornbread

1 1/3 cup AP Flour

2/3 cup Cornmeal

1/3 cup Sugar

1 ½ tsp Baking Powder

¾ tsp Baking Soda

¾ tsp Salt

¾ cup Butter, Melted

2 Large Eggs

½ cup milk

3 Scallions, chopped

A small handful of cilantro, chopped

½ cup Cheddar Cheese, grated

·         Preheat oven to 325F

·         Mix dry ingredients

·         Add in wet ingredients

·         Stir until just combined,

·         Pour into a buttered loaf pan and bake until an inserted skewer comes out with only a couple crumbs, about 45 minutes.