Tuesday 1 July 2014

Pumpkin Cornbread














I cut a slice of this deliciously moist cornbread to photograph it and then, of course, I had to eat it. Then I just kept cutting slices and eating them to double-check and triple-check for quality. Then I had to "neaten" up the edges for aesthetics and eat the off-cuts because I hate waste. The things I do...




Pumpkin Cornbread
slightly adapted from Belinda Jeffery's Mix & Bake

500g pumpkin (to make 350g puree)
150g fine stone-ground yellow polenta (cornmeal)
1 1/2 tablespoons spelt flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon fine salt (I used Pink Himalaya)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
45g unsalted butter
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds

Preheat the oven to 200C. Cut the pumpkin into large wedges. Put them skin side down on a baking tray and roast for about 40 - 45 minutes until soft. Leave to cool, and when cool enough to handle, scrape the flesh from the skin and puree the flesh in a blender. You should have about 350g puree (give or take). Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the polenta, flour. baking powder, salt, baking soda and nutmeg to combine. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix the buttermilk, pumpkin puree and egg together. Set aside

Put the butter in a 20cm square cake pan and pop it into the oven to melt. Once melted, swirl the butter around the base and sides of the pan then add tip the excess butter into the buttermilk mixture and whisk it together.

Add the pumpkin mixture to the polenta mixture and mix until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and scatter the pumpkin seeds over the top. Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly golden and the centre springs back when gently pressed. Leave to cool for 10 minutes in the pan before turning out onto a wire rack. Best served warm.

13 comments:

  1. Another delicious recipe. I love the texts/images/stamps you have been adding to your pictures lately - which program do you use?

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    1. Thanks so much for your lovely comment Danielle. I use Photoshop. It takes me ages to design the texts/stamps. Almost as long as it does to bake, photograph and write it up haha - but I love it. I'm a font junkie - a funkie as it were.

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  2. Cornbread with pumpkin? That's really interesting!! It's funny cause over Montreal, it's all about Quebec's strawberry and fresh fruits and veggies from our province and you're in autumn. Oh the world :)

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    1. The pumpkin gives the cornbread that little bit of sweetness that's characteristic of this type of bread. While we are deep in pumpkin season, you are enjoying fresh berries. Isn't the world an amazing place?

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  3. Oh I love cornbread, and oh I love pumpkin and here you are making pumpkin cornbread into a thing! I just used the rest of my butternut to make salad last night, but it's on the top of my shopping list for the farmer's market this weekend now!
    And thanks for taking care of those raggy edges for us - you sacrifice a lot for your readers don't you? :)

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    1. You can replace the spelt flour with fine brown rice flour Amy and make it gluten-free. You're like me, no sooner have I used a pumpkin< I'm back to the markets re-stocking my supply. However, these pumpkins are from my garden and deliciously sweet they are too.

      I knew someone would appreciate my attention to detail with making sure any untidy edges were dealt with. I suffer for my art.

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  4. Oh I love cornbread, and oh I love pumpkin and here you are making pumpkin cornbread into a thing! I just used the rest of my butternut to make salad last night, but it's on the top of my shopping list for the farmer's market this weekend now!
    And thanks for taking care of those raggy edges for us - you sacrifice a lot for your readers don't you? :)

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  5. I haven't eaten cornbread since my last visit to the USA... aaaages ago. So good though! This pumpkin version looks incredible. And good on you for tidying up uneven corners, waste not want not. Right?!
    P.S I do hope you slathered on freshly churned butter. I can imagine doing just that. Liberally.

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    1. I don't know why I don't make more cornbread. It's so quick and easy and delicious. It's perfect next to a bowl of soup, stew or chilli (which is how we scoffed it - with loads of butter. Is there any other way?) I neatened so many edges I felt like I was a twelve year old trying to cut my own fringe.

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  6. I love this twist on cornbread! We eat loads of it, but I've frankly never tried it with anything like pumpkin. Must fix that!

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    1. I think you'll love it Maria. It make the pumpkin gives the cornbread an extra sweetness and moist crumb.

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  7. Hey Jennifer,
    Can you really taste the difference between kosher salt and Pink Himalayan salt in a recipe like this?

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    1. It's not so much about the taste, but about the quality of salt. We don't have kosher salt here. Pink Himalayan salt is less harsh than normal table salt and has all the natural trace elements and minerals still in it. I wanted to make a distinction between fine salt and sea salt flakes as the quantity of those two things is quite different (you would normally use twice as much sea salt flakes to fine salt.)

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