Skillet Cornbread!

I just love cornbread. I know it is Not My Friend (the carbs! the carbs!), but who am I kidding - I make my own ice-cream!

This is the only recipe I have ever used to make it, and it always turns out very well, and is very quick to make. If you whip up a batch of this, and pop it into the oven, then get cooking on your meat & capsicum, you will have a fantastic Mexican meal ready to roll in around half an hour! How Good Is That!

FYI - corn 'flour' and corn 'meal are confusing terms. Cornflour as sold in the supermarkets is a thickening agent. If you make cornbread with this stuff it would quite possible be the most revolting thing you have ever eaten.

What they mean in the recipe below is what is often called 'Miaze Flower' here. You can find it in healthfood stores, and it has a lovely yellow colour to it.

This is the brand I used. I have no association with the company, and I only use this brand because it is what my local healthfood shop stocks. But I thought a link might be helpful, so here it is:  http://www.organicsaustraliaonline.com.au/prod415.htm

Finally, this is called 'Skillet Cornbread'. I just cook it in a solid based (i.e. not springform) pie tin. By melting the butter per the instructions, the cornbread turns out of the pan perfectly.

Skillet Cornbread
1.25 cups yellow cornmeal (see above re: cornflour)
1.25 cups plain flour
2 tbs sugar
1.5 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp baking soda
1.25 tsp coarse salt
1 large egg
1.75 cups buttermilk (or same quantity of full cream w/ a squeeze of lemon juice)
4tbs unsalted butter

I apologise for the tablespoon butter measurement. This is an American thing and for the life of me I can't see how it is easy to measure something like butter in tablespoons! Give us a weight Martha!!

I just kind of roughly figure it out, lopping tablespoons out of room temp block of butter.

1) Preheat the oven to 220'c. Whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl & set aside. Whisk together the egg & buttermilk, then stir into the flour mixture.

2) Melt the butter (!!) in a 10-inch skillet or baking dish in the oven. remove the skillet, and swirl the butter all over to coat the bottom & sides. Pour in the batter, and bake until a tester comes out clean, around 20 - 25 minutes. Cut into wedges & serve.