Every now and again, I peruse cookbooks that have been on my shelves for some time, but have been neglected in recent years. One such book is Huntley Dent's The Feast of Santa Fe, an older, but still very fine volume on the cooking of the southwest. In it, I found this recipe for spoonbread which made an excellent breakfast the next day.
Breakfast Souffle Spoonbread
BREAKFAST SOUFFLE SPOONBREAD
- 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- Pepper to taste
- 1 cup boiling water
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
For the garnish: 1 sliced avocado, 1 cup fresh salsa and a few tablespoons of chopped green coriander
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. and generously butter a 1-quart casserole, preferably deep rather than shallow.
Blend the first six ingredients in a food processor, taking about 5 seconds and stopping at least once to scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the eggs and milk and blend for a few seconds more to incorporate them thoroughly. Pour the batter into the buttered casserole. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the whole "bread," including the center, just sets, but do not allow to dry out. Serve hot directly from the pan, make sure to scrape some of the outer crust, which always sticks to the sides of the casserole, onto each portion.
Serve plain with butter as a side dish in place of a starchy vegetable at dinner or garnish with avocado, salsa and cilantro as a breakfast, brunch or lunch entree.
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