Cornbread: Sweet or Savory?

Many a spirited conversation has surrounded this question. Frankly I don’t prefer one over the other, it’s a matter of what I’m making for dinner, which works best with what I’m making for dinner and what my husband is in the mood for with dinner (sometimes he even gets his way LOL!). The sweet vs savory debate is a regional thing, think Mason-Dixon line.

Southerners prefer not to include sugar in their cornbread.

Northerners prefer sugar in their cornbread.

I’ve made many varieties of cornbread over the years, in fact during hurricane Sandy I made it on the stovetop in a cast iron skillet, no oven needed (good thing, since without electricity it was out of commission). But no matter how I make it, sweet or savory, in the oven or on the stove top, my base recipe remains the same. Creature of habit.

So when my mother-in-law asked me to make some mini cornbread muffins for Thanksgiving this year I thought I’d have a little fun and make both a sweet version and a savory version. I’ll be curious to see who likes which. (Mom, if you’re reading this, don’t tell!)

This recipe evolved quite some time ago from a cornmeal package label but at this point it doesn’t really resemble the original recipe much…other than the cornmeal part. It’s incredibly versatile and super easy to make. If you want to keep the mix on hand, simply combine all the dry ingredients minus the ingredient that makes it either sweet or savory – you know, sugar or herb/spice (in this case rosemary) – and store in a container in a cool dry place until ready to use.

If you’re looking for a quick and easy carb for Thanksgiving, this is it.

Ingredients – Base Recipe
1 ¼ cups stone ground cornmeal
1 cup All Purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk, well shaken
½ cup milk
¼ cup neutral oil like canola or grapeseed
1 large egg

For Savory: Add 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary in with the dry ingredients (Thyme would be nice too).
For Sweet: Add ¼ cup sugar in with the dry ingredients.

Instructions
1. Preheat your oven to 400°. Grease your 24 well mini-muffin tin (I use cooking spray) and set aside.
2. In a large bowl combine the cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Whisk together to blend well.
3. Now you need to make a decision: sweet or savory? If you are going the sweet route add the ¼ cup sugar. If you are going the savory route, add the 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary.
4. In a separate bowl or large measuring cup (that’s what I did) combine the buttermilk, milk, oil and egg; whisk together to blend well.
5. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Stir just until combined. Be careful not to overmix!
6. Using a small ice cream scoop or ladle, pour the batter into the muffin tin.
7. Bake for 10-14 minutes or until lightly golden.
8. Allow to sit in the tin for about five minutes then remove to a wire rack.

Both the sweet and savory are nice served warm but room temperature is perfectly fine.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Rosemary Asiago Savory Sables – #baketogether

It’s been way too long since I participated in a #baketogether. My last one was in October, gasp! How’d that happen. I guess the end-of-year insanity got the best of me and they just didn’t happen. I have gone back to look at these recipes and oh what I’ve missed! I think I be doing a make up on them at some point throughout the year.

Okay so Abby Dodge has given us something entirely different this time: Spicy Parmesan Sables! In addition, a technique called “fraisage” was employed in this recipe and it’s new to me. As she explained, “this simple method of smearing the just-mixed dough with the palm of your hand creates layers of butter and dough (think laminating) from the crumbly mixture which makes for a tender, flaky texture”. Oh how I love learning new things.

For my take on the sables, I decided to swap out the parmesan for Asiago, one of my favorite cheeses on earth, and rosemary for the thyme. I love the combination of Asiago cheese and rosemary.

It occurred to me that since I was playing with Italian flavors, I would see what would happen if I turned these into olive oil sables. Well, they didn’t brown the same, they were a bit greasy to the touch and the oil flavor was way too strong. Not to mention they were way too fragile. FAIL!

I really did want the olive oil flavor because despite all of the above, I could tell I was onto something. I decided to do a half butter, half oil version and this turned out much better! And the fraisage technique worked better the second time around as well…but that could have been me. You get the flakiness from the butter and the richness from the oil. Yum.

Baketogether is a lot of fun and Abby is a very gracious host. It’s open to all so head on over to her site and join the fun.

So here is my version of Abby’s Sables:
Adapted from Abby Dodge

Rosemary-Asiago Olive Oil Sables

Ingredients
1 1/3 cups (6 ounces) all purpose flour
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Asiago cheese
1 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
4 tablespoons (2 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 7 slices, well chilled
2 ounces olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons very cold water
Kosher salt for sprinkling (optional)

Instructions
1. Put the flour, cheese, salt and rosemary into a food processor and pulse just enough to combine.
2. Add the butter and pulse until it just starts to break up, about 4-5 times. Then add the olive oil and pulse another 6-7 times, or until you see butter pieces that are slightly larger than a pea.
3. Add the water a little at a time and pulse until the dough starts forming moist crumbs, maybe 5 or 6 more times.
4. Dump the flour mixture onto an unfloured counter and gather into a pile. Here’s the fraisage technique: “With the heel of you hand, push and gently smear the crumbs away from you until they start to form a cohesive dough.” Gather the dough together and turn 45 degrees; fraisage 1 or 2 more times.
5. Form the dough into a rectangular log, about 7 1/4 long by 2 1/4 wide. You can use a bench scraper to make the sides straight (Abby’s great idea!).
6. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic and refrigerate until very firm, about 3 hours or up to 2 days.
7. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375°F. Line two sheet pans with silicone liners or parchment paper.
8. When the oven is up to temperature, take the dough out of the refrigerator and using a thin straight-edge knife, cut the dough into 1/4 inch slices; place the slices on the prepared sheet pans about 1 inch apart. They won’t spread.
9. Bake one sheet at a time until slightly browned, about 18-20 minutes.

Abby’s Notes
The dough can be shaped and frozen for up to a month, thawed on the counter for an hour or overnight in the fridge.
Baked and cooled sables can be wrapped and frozen. Thaw at room temp and refresh in the over for a few minutes at 325°F.

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Rosemary-Infused Blueberry Sorbet

What happens when you combine this:

With this:

You get this!

I have been trying to make this since June. Yup, you read that correctly, June. It’s now August. In fairness, I made this in July, I just didnt get a chance to post it until now. Life has been rather hectic as of late and it seems that time somehow got away from me.

Anyhow, better late than never, right?

So, why this particular recipe? Well you see there was another #baketogether organized on Twitter by Abby Dodge which I had fully intended to participate in and the subject was sorbet. I tossed a few flavor ideas around in my head and came up with rosemary and blueberry.

I enjoy combining sweet and savory flavors; remarkable things often happen when you do. I thought this one was a bit unusual, at least I’ve not encountered it before. Of course I had no idea if what I imagined this would taste like would actually pan out but I figured I’d give it a try. And you know what, it worked!

So how did I come up with this combination? Well, my husband absolutely loves blueberry and I wanted to do something that he would really enjoy. As for rosemary, I happen to like the earthy, piney (is that a word?), floral tones. I find the scent of rosemary soothing and enticing at the same time and thought it would work well with the also earthy, sometimes grassy but sweet flavor of blueberries. It did.

I added something else which you may or may not find unusual, a pinch of black pepper. I learned this little trick a number of years ago when looking for a blueberry pie recipe. If I remember correctly it was a Martha Stewart recommendation and you know what? She was right. I don’t know what it is but it works. It’s kind of like salt and tomatoes, it’s just that something-something that enhances and enlivens the flavor of blueberries. Seriously, give it a try.

So, even though we are on to the next bake together (which I WILL be participating in and have already worked the recipe out in my head) I wanted to do this, I needed to do this so here you go: Rosemary-Infused Blueberry Sorbet.

The following recipe is adapted from one provided by Abby Dodge
NOTE: Ingredients in italics are my changes to the original recipe.

Ingredients
3/4 cup water

3/4 cup sugar

About half of a 3/4 oz package of rosemary

2 pints blueberries, rinsed and well dried

1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Pinch table salt

Pinch black pepper

Instructions
1. Have an ice cream maker ready. (I use an electric Cuisinart with a 1 quart canister, probably the same style as Abby’s. If you use this type of model, make sure the canister has been in the freezer for several hours or over night.) I put a 2qt glass container in the freezer as well so that it would be cold when I added the sorbet.

2. Put the sugar and water into a medium saucepan. Cook, stirring gently over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the head and add the rosemary sprigs. Set aside and allow to steep a minimum of 4 hours or overnight. I left mine overnight. You can refrigerate this syrup up to 4 days before continuing but be sure to remove the rosemary if it will sit longer than 24 hours.

3. Put the berries into a food processor and process until smooth, about 1 minute (you’ll have approximately 2 cups). Add the fruit puree to the sugar syrup along with the lemon zest, salt and pepper. Stir until blended. Set aside to cool completely and refrigerate until chilled or up to 1 day. For faster cooling, set the pan over a bowl filled with ice, stirring occasionally, until well chilled.

4. Pour the chilled mixture into the ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer’s instructions. Serve immediately (it will be soft) or scrape into the chilled dish, cover and freeze until firm or up to 2 days.

Abby’s suggestion if you don’t have an ice cream maker, make a granita!

Here’s how you do it:
In place of ice cream machine, switch-in the following:
 Arrange a 9×13 inch baking dish or 9 1/2 cup rectangular plastic container (Ziploc) in the freezer making sure it is level and secure. (Other sizes and shapes work too but you’ll need to adjust your stirring and scraping times accordingly.) Follow the directions for making the mixture. Pour the chilled mixture into the baking dish and freeze about 2 hours until frozen around the edges.  Every 30 minutes, stir and scrape the mixture with a table fork. Freeze and scrape until the ice crystals are loose and frozen.

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