Recipe: Skillet Pinon Corn Bread

Skillet Pinon Corn Bread

Yield: 12 to 14 servings

Serving this corn bread in a skillet or rustic cornbread pan is a comforting, homey touch plus the thick cast iron keeps the bread warm at the table. In pioneer days, corn bread was often made in Dutch ovens (also called bake ovens). The large cast iron cooking vessels were imported from Europe and used for cooking foods over campfires or on the hearth next to the main fireplace. As the name suggests, the Dutch oven originated in Holland in the 1600s, but it was later patented and produced in large quantities by Abraham Darby at Colebrookdale in England, one of the first major centers of the Industrial Revolution. In this recipe, the flavors of the sage and pinons, or pine nuts, give the bread a richness and earthiness that evoke the open range and hillsides of the Southwest.

1/4 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons canola oil or vegetable oil
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs

Dry Ingredients

1-1/4 cups cornmeal
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup pinon nuts, toasted
1/2 cup fresh corn kernels, roasted
15 fresh sage leaves, chopped
1 small onion, diced

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Whisk together the butter, oil, water, buttermilk, and eggs in a mixing bowl. Set aside.

3. Combine the dry ingredients and sift into a separate mixing bowl.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until completely incorporated.

5. Stir in the pine nuts, corn kernels, sage, and onion until incorporated.

6. Coat a 10-inch ovenproofcast iron skillet with softened butter (about 2 tablespoons) and heat in the oven for 5 minutes.

7. Remove the hot skillet and pour the batter into it.

8. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until a paring knife or toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center.

9. Remove the skillet from the oven and let cool slightly.

10. Serve out of the skillet.

Recipe from:
Flavored Breads
Recipes From Mark Miller's Coyote Cafe
by Mark Miller and Andrew MacLauchlan
176 pages, full-color, 1997
paper, ISBN: 0-89815-862-1
cloth, ISBN: 0-89815-889-3
Reprinted by permission