Southern Style Cornbread

I know several people who cannot eat gluten, and every time I tell them my cornbread is safe for them to eat they inevitably ask for the recipe. Because, they tell me, they have been looking for a good gluten-free cornbread recipe. Then I drop a culinary bomb on them, any true southern style cornbread should not contain flour! It's all cornmeal. Somewhere along the way someone decided to start adding wheat flour to cornbread, probably because it made for a lighter consistency in the store bought mixes. But honey, if you do it right, it will have a light consistency, along with a deep crust on the bottom.
So grab some of your grandma's jelly, some honey butter, or a big bowl of chili. Cause we're making cornbread.

Step 1

1/3 cup yellow Cornmeal
1/3 cup rapidly boiling Water
3/4 cup Buttermilk
1 large Egg

Pre-heat oven to 450.
Cornbread is traditionally made in a cast iron skillet and if you have one you should definitely use it. But I understand that most people don't have one (I don't understand why they don't, but whatever). A good substitute is a stoneware casserole dish. The stoneware can be preheated in the oven so that the cornbread starts cooking the moment it hits the hot dish.
If using stoneware or a cast iron skillet- Use an 8" skillet or an 8x8 baking pan. Place the empty pan into the oven to preheat.
First thing we're gonna do here is make a mush, which is just hot water and cornmeal mixed. This pre-soaking of part of the cornmeal brings out the corn flavor and adds a smooth consistency to go along with the slightly grainier consistency of the non-soaked cornmeal that will go in later.
In a medium bowl combine the cornmeal and water. Rapidly boiling means that you get it to a good rolling boil then immediately dump it in with the corn meal.
Stir to create a stiff mush, the mush should not be so stiff that is is hard to stir. If that happens, add a few tablespoons of boiling water until mush is slightly loose. Let sit for a few minutes to cool down.

Once the mush has cooled enough that you can touch it, beat in the egg until smooth. Then stir in the buttermilk.

Step 2

2/3 yellow Cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda

Combine dry ingredients in a smaller bowl.

Step 3

Before combining the dry with the wet, we need to finish prepping the pan we are cooking this in.
If using Stoneware or Cast Iron- Pull out the oven rack the pan is on. Carefully pour 2 Tablespoons of cooking oil into pan and spread around using a silicon pastry brush, be sure to get up the sides too. If you don't have a brush, a spatula or even a bunched up paper towel will work. Slide rack back into oven and close the door. Let the oil heat for 1 minute.

If you happen to have some bacon grease lying around, then you should definitely use that.
If you are using a regular metal pan- Pour the oil into the cool pan, then place in preheated oven for 5 minutes, or until oil is smoking.
If you are using a glass casserole dish then you should not preheat it. Just grease it up with the oil, pour the batter in and then put it in the oven. If you try to pour cold batter into a hot glass dish you will end up with a broken glass dish and batter dripping all over your oven.
While pan finishes preheating, pour the dry ingredients onto the wet.

Whisk until fully combined.

The wet and dry are combined at the last minute because as soon as the dry ingredients hit the buttermilk, the leavening agents start to do their thing. Unlike yeast, baking soda and baking powder will only work for so long. To get the lightest and fluffiest cornbread, you want to start cooking it right away so that the leavening is working at full strength until the bread is cooked and all those air bubbles are locked into place.
So once your batter is mixed, immediately take it to the oven. Pull out the rack the pan is on and pour all of the batter into the pan. You should hear the batter start to sizzle as soon as it hits the pan. Unless you are using a glass dish, then you're not going to hear anything. It will be disappointingly quiet.
Slide the rack back into place, close the oven door, and bake for about 20 minutes. The top of the bread should be a nice golden brown, and a toothpick or knife should come out clean when inserted into the center of the bread.

Allow to cool for about 20 minutes. Then run a knife around the edge of the pan and flip the bread out onto a cutting board.
The bottom of the bread will be a dark brown and nice and crunchy.

Oh, yeah.
Sop there you have it, the best damn cornbread you will ever have. Unless you get someones Southern grandma to make you some.
Y'all come back now, ya hear!
~Julia

Homemade Barbecue Sauce

I do a lot of grilling and barbecuing over the summer and I put a lot of effort into making it come out perfect. So why would I want to ruin all that hard work with a bottled BBQ sauce? Especially when making your own BBQ sauce is so easy.
How easy?
So easy I hardly need any pictures to show you how to do it.
I have created a base recipe that can be used on its own or to create several versions of BBQ sauce, from variations on sweet to extra spicy.

Base BBQ Sauce 

4 cups Ketchup
4 cups packed Brown Sugar
1 1/2 cups Cider Vinegar
1/2 cup Agave Nectar
1/2 cup Worcestershire Sauce (omit to make sauce Vegan or fish free)
1 Tablespoon dried Thyme
1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
1 Tablespoon Onion Powder
1 Tablespoon ground Cumin
1 Tablespoon Paprika
2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste

Whisk all ingredients together in a large pot. Simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes. Keeps in the refrigerator for 2 weeks or in the freezer for 3 months.

See how easy that was? You don't even need a picture. I have one anyway.

Lovely.

If you are omitting the Worcestershire Sauce then add a 1/2 teaspoon of Liquid Smoke, hickory flavor. Liquid smoke is just smoke that was trapped in water and concentrated so they could bottle it. You can find liquid smoke right next to the worcestershire sauce, which is found next to the steak sauce, which is found next to the ketchup. If you can't find the ketchup you're on your own.

The base sauce is sweet with no spice and even though lots of vinegar is added at the beginning, 30 minutes of simmering cooks a lot of it out so it's not too acidic. Most recipes call for corn syrup but I prefer the extra depth of flavor the agave nectar brings, plus it's often easier to find now a days. 

Now lets talk variations. All variations use the base sauce, things are just added or replaced. If you want to make a few versions out of one batch just mix together the base sauce ingredients then divide it evenly into 2 separate pans.

Spicy BBQ Sauce

1 recipe Base BBQ Sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons whole Szechuan Peppercorns

1 1/2 teaspoons whole Black Peppercorns (preferably Tellicherry)

1 1/2 teaspoons ground Chipotle Peppers

1 1/2 teaspoons Cayenne Pepper

Let's talk spices. Normally I try to keep my ingredients stuff that is easy to find in the regular stores, but I'm making an exception here with the szechuan peppercorns because they are what really puts this sauce over the top. You can find them in a spice shop, I get mine from Penzeys Spices. If you can't find them, or don't want to make the effort, the mixed peppercorn blends you can find in most stores can be used in replacement. Substitute the szechuan and black peppercorns for 3 teaspoons of the mixed peppercorns. It's not going to be nearly as awesome though, I'm just saying.

I get the ground chipotle peppers from Target so I don't consider it too hard to find.

Using whole peppercorns is key because once they are ground they are only potent for about a week. Grinding your own spices is easy. You can get a little spice grinder, or re-purpose a coffee grinder for just spices, OR you can do what I do and use a pepper mill. 

                           

This one used to be a dual grinder but the top half broke, so i now I just use it as my spice grinder. I put the whole spices in and out comes freshly ground spices. It takes a little more physical effort than the other options but it's small and easy and cheap to get a replacement. Plus I'm only ever grinding a few teaspoons at a time.

Okay, back to the recipe.

Preheat a large pot over low heat. Take your freshly ground spices and the chipotle and cayenne pepper, place in the pot and toast for 30 seconds. If you haven't mixed the base sauce yet then add in the cumin and paprika as well. You know the spices are ready when they give off a strong, warm scent. Toasting the spices helps to release their oils and increases flavor.

Add base sauce ingredients, whisk together. Increase heat to medium and simmer for 30 minutes.

Can you feel the heat from all those spices? Trust me, you will.

Sweet Variations-

Honey BBQ Sauce

Replace the agave nectar with 1/2 cup Honey

Rootbeer or other soda flavored BBQ Sauce

Add 1 cup rootbeer or other soda to the base sauce before simmering. Be warned, cola and caffeinated sodas can lend a bitter taste to the sauce. Some people like that, so, whatever. My favorite sodas to add are rootbeer or orange.

The sauce won't actually taste like the soda in question but it does add a nice flavor. Plus when you tell people there is rootbeer in the sauce, their eyes light up and you get a lot of "Ooo"s. Make sure to get a little more soda than you need for the recipe. Inevitably your kids will see the can or bottle and go "Mom! I want soda!". Best to be prepared.

Whiskey BBQ Sauce

Add 1 cup whiskey to the base sauce before simmering. This variation works really well with the spicy variation as well.

Marmalade or other Jam/Jelly Add-Ins

Replace the agave nectar with 1/2 cup of marmalade or other jam/jelly. 

This variation is inspired by my Mom who loves to experiment with new jam and jelly flavors, then gives me a jar and says "Here, try this.". And I'm like, what am I supposed to do with Jalapeno Tomato jam? So I started putting it in BBQ sauce. I've come up with some really great ones over the years because of this. My favorite is using her Irish Whiskey Marmalade to make BB sauce to use over pork or chicken. You can get the same flavor by adding 1 cup of whiskey along with the marmalade.

Another favorite is grape jelly. It tastes great over meatballs and makes a fun appetizer for parties. Apple jellies are great for a sauce served with pork. 

Other random things I have experimented with over the years

Juice- Apple cider, Orange juice, Pineapple juice all work great, add 1 cup

Fruit- Apple chunks, whole Cranberries (think smoked turkey), Pineapple chunks, add 2 cups

Various spices- If a food I'm cooking has a certain over powering spice, like ginger or cinnamon, I will add a tablespoon of it to the sauce to help bring the flavors together.

The most important part of BBQ sauce is to be creative with it and make it your own. And to make sure there is enough to smother over your latest smoky creation.

~Julia

Quesadillas

Quesadillas are easy to make. I once made them in a tiny hotel room kitchen for 9 people. So if they're so easy why am I making a recipe for them? I will tell you.
Just melting cheese in between a folded tortilla doesn't make for something memorable. Just something edible. To elevate your Quesadillas to something worth getting excited over there are a few easy steps.

Step 1

2 cups Southwestern vegetable mix or 1 cup corn and 1 cup cooked black beans
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Lime Juice

The vegetable mix I am referring to here is found in the freezer section along with the rest of the frozen vegetables. There are many different brands but they all contain about the same stuff, corn, black beans, onions, and a mild pepper.

If you cannot find them you could try having someone suggest you use a horrible canned chili instead, it should motivate you to search a little harder. Don't laugh, that's actually what happened to me when I was making them at the hotel. Couldn't find the vegetable mix in the grocery store until my sister suggested I use canned chili. I made a disgusted face then all the sudden noticed the southwestern blend in the freezer case right in front of me.

Or you could just substitute 1 cup frozen or fresh corn and 1 cup canned black beans.

The vegetables do not need to be defrosted before cooking, the hot pan will do that for you.
Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the frozen vegetables to the pan along with 1/4 teaspoon salt and dry toast (no oil)  the vegetables until the corn has a little bit of browning to it.

Remove corn and bean mix from the pan and place in a bowl. Stir in lime juice. Set aside.
Clean out the skillet and use it for the next step.

Step 2

2 cups Corn and Bean mix (the one I just told you how to make)
4 cups shredded Sharp Cheddar
10-12 Flour Tortillas
1/4 cup Olive Oil 
2-3 tablespoons Kosher Salt

Heat the skillet over medium to medium-low heat. You will need to adjust the heat throughout the cooking process if your quesadillas start to brown too quickly.
Using a pastry brush, brush one side of a tortilla with a thin coating of oil, then sprinkle with kosher salt.

Lay the tortilla, oiled side down, in the pan. Add cheese and a few spoonfuls of the corn and bean mix.

Fold the tortilla over and move the curved edge to match up with the curve of the pan (yes, there is a good reason).

Repeat on the other side of the pan.

Toast until dark golden brown. Flip and toast on the other side. The cheese should get nice and melty.

Remove quesadillas from pan, allow to cool for a minute, then cut and serve.

See how easy that was.

Until next time,
Julia