Mexican red corn bread recipe
When we wrote Rhode Island Recipes: Creative, healthy cooking with iconic local foods, Jennifer of Savor the Thyme and I didn't fully appreciate one of the perks: the opportunity to meet all of the food producers in the book, and to learn about new products, sometimes before they hit the market. Kenyon's Grist Mill isn't new -- they've been grinding grains on their Rhode Island site since 1696 -- but their red corn meal is new to me. I adapted a recipe from the Kenyon's site for this Mexican red corn bread. It's a rustic pan bread, lumpy and bumpy with chopped green chile peppers and whole corn kernels (I used frozen, fire-roasted corn). If you like your corn bread on the sweet side, add an additional tablespoon of sugar, as the original recipe suggests. You can substitute yellow, blue or white finely ground corn meal, or purchase Kenyon's red corn meal online or at their mill shop here in Rhode Island.
Mexican red corn bread
From the pantry, you'll need: all-purpose unbleached flour, cornmeal (red, blue or yellow), granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, plain nonfat Greek yogurt, egg, olive oil, shredded or grated cheese, canned green chiles, baking spray.
Adapted from a recipe on the Kenyon's Grist Mill web site. Serves 12.
Ingredients
1-1/4 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
3/4 cup red cornmeal (or blue, or yellow)
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt (or sour cream)
1/4 cup nonfat (skim) milk
1 cup frozen corn kernels, defrosted
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup shredded or grated Cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
4-oz can chopped green chiles
Baking spray
Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray an 8-inch square cake pan with baking spray, and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In another bowl, combine the yogurt, milk, corn, beaten egg, olive oil, shredded cheese and green chiles.
Pour the yogurt mixture into the flour mixture, and stir until barely moistened. The batter will be thick and lumpy.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, and use a rubber spatula to spread it evenly in the pan.
Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool for at least 10 minutes, and serve with sweet butter.
More recipes in The Perfect Pantry:
Polenta with wild mushroom ragout
West Bay jonnycakes
Roasted red pepper, basil and parmesan johnnycakes
Lemon currant johnnycake biscotti
Cornbread with fresh corn and herbs
Other recipes that use these pantry ingredients:
Cornmeal crusted catfish, from Lisa is Cooking
Arepas, from Gluten Free Girl and the Chef
Savory cornbread muffins, from Kitchen Parade
Overnight grits crockpot recipe, from A Year of Slow Cooking
Double cornbread with red pepper, jalapeños and cheese, from Vintage Kitchen Notes
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Sadly, cornbread will never be low-glycemic enough for me to eat it often, but this sounds delicious for a treat!
From the Inquiring Department: what makes it 'red'? Looks great!
Kalyn, definitely a treat food for me, too.
Susan, red corn meal!
Two weeks ago, we stopped at a farmers market in Montgomery, Alabama and picked up the usual assortment of vegetables and fruits -- and cornmeal, ground the “day before” the mill owner told me. (He laughed out loud when I asked if this were “this year’s cornmeal”.)
PS My experience with blue cornmeal is that it turns baked goods into a sort of muddy gray. Not true with red?
Alanna, the red cornmeal doesn't turn gray, but it isn't the bright color you'd hope for (pink cornbread, anyone?). I've used it in two dishes now (the other recipe will be here in a couple of weeks), and it does give a bit of a dark color. In this cornbread, I used a farm egg with an incredibly orange yolk, which also affected the final color a bit.
Lydia,
In addition to looking pretty and I am sure being tasty, this cornbread looks like it would be great in a Thanksgiving stuffing. Yes, I am thinking Thanksgiving already--I was working a Hunger Study and the food pantry we were at was giving out turkeys. Got me in the mood.
Thanks!
This looks like a very interesting recipe. I'm going to try this soon.
I am with Kirsten above... turkey stuffing !!