Monday, August 19, 2013

Rosie Makes A Quick Lunch For Her Hawthornelets. Cornbread And Sirloin.



 
 I love a good cornbread.
I want a nice crumb and texture.
I want it pretty.
 I want it to taste wonderful.

 And if it has little surprises throughout,
I'm good with that.

 I found yet another basic recipe for cornbread
and I cranked it up a bit.

Cornbread 
2 cups cornmeal
1 cup skim milk
1 cup heavy cream
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 oz. pepper jack cheese, diced
1/2 roasted red pepper, diced
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Heat oven to 400°.
Butter an 8-inch square baking dish.
 In a medium bowl, mix dry ingredients-
cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and sugar.
In a large bowl,
combine eggs, milk, cream, sour cream, and melted butter.
Whisk dry ingredients into wet mixture until smooth.
Stir in pepper jack cheese and roasted pepper.

  Bake in 400° oven about 40 minutes
until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center
comes out clean.
Let cornbread cool slightly before slicing into squares.
And the cook always has dibs on the end pieces.






 It's important to let the cornbread rest a bit.
You'll have a tighter texture that way
and when you cut it, it won't crumble.
However, I'm feeding a bunch of heathens
and they tore into this as soon as it came out of the oven.
I should have shot a picture of the cornbread
after those two dug into it,
but I was too pissed off.
Looked like monkeys had fought over it
and nobody won.
 While the cornbread was baking,
I prepared my sirloin steak.
I'd let the frozen meat thaw slightly
and then I cut it into very thin slices.
Toss with freshly ground salt and pepper
and a teaspoon of sugar.
Add 1 TB butter and 1 TB oil to pan
over medium high - high heat.
I seared the meat in two batches.
Adding all the meat at once would have lowered
the temperature of the pan
and the meat would steam, not sear and caramelize.
When in doubt, do batches.
My meat was paper-thin
and cooked in less than a minute.
Season with a few judicious shakes
 of cumin and Montreal Steak Seasoning.

 Ahhh.
Cornbread with gooey pockets of cheese.
Roasted red peppers.
Seared and seasoned sirloin strips.
My Hawthornelets loved this.
 I hid the cornbread
so I could sauté a slice or three or four for breakfast.

This recipe is a keeper.
Next time,
I might add sliced tomatoes, onions, and jalapenos on top
along with some grated cheddar.



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