CORNBREAD

One of the things I grew to love while living in US was cornbread. There is some differing opinions on whether it is indeed bread, or is it cake! I give that it is sweet, but with chilli and cheese added, it is to me, the perfect bread to serve alongside a BBQ, with soup or stews. I guess it can be compared to savoury muffins, but still sweet. Sounds weird but it does work. Well for me anyway. Hope you'll agree.

I have tried several recipes but this is the one I prefer. Its easy to make, always a good thing in my book, its fast and ready to eat straight from the oven. Nothing better.

Americans do tend to butter it and some even put maple syrup on it but for me it is sweet enough as it is.

This recipe is for cornbread with jalepenos and cheese but of course you could vary the added ingredients to suit your tastes.

3 cups SR Flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal (polenta)
1/4 cup sugar
2Tbsp Baking Powder
2 tsp Salt
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2 cups Milk
3 extra large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 lb unsalted butter, melted, plus more to grease pan
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8oz (250g) grated cheddar, divided
1/3 cup chopped spring onions
3 Tbsp finely chopped jalepenos




Now the easy part. Mix all the dry ingredients together. Mix together wet ingredients then add to dry ingredients and mix until dry ingredients are dissolved. Do not over mix, mixture should be a little lumpy.
Now add 2 cups of the cheese and the onions. Mix through. Leave for 20mins.

Pre- heat oven to 180c (350f) and grease a 9"x13"x2" baking pan.
Pour mixture into pan and sprinkle over remaining cheese.
Bake for 30-35 mins.

As you can see it is a simple recipe, just have all ingredients laid out before you start and you will have no problem.

CHEDDAR BISCUITS

Red Lobster is a chain of seafood restaurants found all over the US. All Americans are familiar with them, and I suspect, although they won't always admit to it, most people will have eaten there at some point. For me, I don't mind them. I have always had perfectly well cooked and tasty food, at an affordable price, very important in today's economy. Okay, they are not serving line caught wild salmon or hand dived scallops, but then neither are they pretending to be something they are not. Any night of the week there will be lines of people waiting for tables. So they must be doing something right.

One thing they definitely do right is the basket of warm Cheddar biscuits they bring to your table on your arrival. They are delicious. Warm, soft and very moreish. It would be easy to eat your daily calorie intake in these alone. I have tried to recreate them, and have gotten pretty close, but there was always something not quite right. So you can imagine my delight when Food Network Magazine printed the recipe.

I immediately scanned the recipe for details on where I was going wrong, and then set to work making them. Could they possibly turn out just like the real thing? After the 20 mins in the oven, the wait was killing me, I pulled out a tray, which to the eye looked pretty authentic. and then I bit into the first one, and yes, to my utter delight here was the illusive cheddar biscuit I had tried so often to copy. I was so happy.

Where had I gone wrong? Sorry to say it was vegetable shortening! I know. We don't want to use it but there is no doubt it makes for tasty cooking and baking. Also a brush with melted garlic butter while still warm put the finishing touch. So I can be happy now I have the recipe and I am delighted to be able to share it with you.

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour(SR)
1 Tbsp + 2 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbsp vegetable shortening at room temp
4 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cubed
1 1/4 grated yellow cheddar
3/4 cup whole milk

GARLIC BUTTER
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 clove garlic, smashed 1 tsp parsley

Heat oven to 425f (220c) and lightly oil a baking sheet.

Pulse flour, baking powder, sugar and salt on processor. Add shortening until combined then add butter and and pulse until you have pea sized pieces throughout the flour. Add cheese then pour in milk and mix until it just comes together. DO NOT OVER MIX.

Turnout and gently bring it all together.

Drop onto baking sheet in 1/4 cup size, I use an ice cream scoop, place 2" apart.

Bake for 15-20mins until golden brown.

When they come out of the oven brush with the melted garlic butter.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do. They go well with soup, chili, salad in fact they will go well with just about anything.

SAVOURY MUFFINS

With a holiday weekend stretched out before us and the promise of good weather, I knew for sure that we would have people dropping bye, just to say hello, and of course to share a glass of wine on the deck. I love when people do this and always like to have something to serve with a cocktail.

I found this recipe in my new book, which I have mentioned before, The Hummingbird Bakery. I am slowly baking my way through it. So I thought I would bake up a batch of Spinach and Cheese Muffins. The recipe said it would make 12, but in fact I had enough left over for 10 mini ones, which would be perfect for my cocktail snack.

They were a bit on the hot side, due to the cayenne pepper, but as we like hot this wasn't a problem. But I do remember as I added the cayenne thinking 1 tsp seemed like a lot. If you prefer a milder flavour use a little less. I thought I would also substitute the cayenne with red chilli flakes. I will also play around with different cheeses and herbs. I thought sage might be a nice option, with perhaps Parmesan. The book offers recipes for ham and mushroom and carrot and zucchini both of which I thought sounded interesting. Really the options are pretty endless.

2tbs butter
1/2 small red onion finely chopped
2 3/4 cups all purpose(plain) flour
2 1/2 tsps baking powder
1tsp cayenne pepper
2 cups finely grated cheddar
1 cup milk (I used buttermilk)
1 egg
4oz baby spinach leaves

Preheat oven to 350f(180c)
Melt butter in saucepan and gently fry the onion until cooked. Set aside.
Put flour, baking powder, cayenne and cheese in a large bowl. In a separate bowl mix the milk and egg together, then slowly pour the into the flour mixture and beat with a hand mixer.

Stir in the onions and spinach with a wooden spoon until evenly mixed.

Spoon the batter into muffin cases until 2/3 full and bake in oven for 30-35mins, or until deep golden and a skewer comes out cleaned.
Let the muffins cool slightly in the pans before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

So although the recipe said for 12 muffins I was happy to also get 10 mini ones which I was able to serve with my drinks. A few seconds in the microwave heated them up nicely. Only problem was that they were very moreish, and I found it hard to stop nibbling on them, if that can be called a problem.

SCONES

Today I had friends coming for coffee so I decided to make scones. British scones that is. There is quite a difference between an American and British scone. The British version is a much lighter, less sweet version of the American scone. However, my scones are not always as successful as I would like them to be and frequently resemble their American counterparts.
Today must have been my lucky day. Perhaps the moons were aligned or something of that nature because, they, I am happy to report, were a complete success. Light and fluffy and perfectly risen. With the addition of some whipped cream and home made strawberry jam they went down a treat. So from now on this is the recipe I will stick to and is as follows:

225g (8oz) self rising flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
40g (1 and 1/2oz) butter
1/4 pint milk
1 beaten egg

Heat oven to 220c (450f)
Grease a baking tray
Sift flour, salt and baking powder into bowl.
Cut butter into small cubes and rub into flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
Stir in milk to form a soft dough. (You may need to add a little more than the 1/4 cup if the dough is too stiff.
On a lightly floured surface flatten dough with your hands to a 1" thickness. Handle dough as little as possible for best results.
With a 6cm (2 1/4") round cutter stamp out the scones. Re roll trimmings.
This amount will make 6 scones.
Brush top of scones with egg mixture, being sure it doesn't run down the sides as this will prohibit rising.
Bake for about 10mins, until golden on top.

TO SERVE

Serve just warm, split open and topped with cream and jam.

Delicious..........