green chile cornbread and Mt. Monadnock

As the nights ( and days) get chilly, I start thinking with excitement about Thanksgiving dinner. A few days ago, I was driving back from physical therapy, saluting, as always, "the mountain" - Mt. Monadnock, just a few miles away from my house. Actually, it's so big, you can see it from at least four towns, but it seems much closer. So between admiring the mountain, and the beautiful day, my memory wandered around in the kitchen of ones mind, and I realized I'd never made a cornbread stuffing for the turkey. So I started experimenting. What I came up with was a terrific, slightly grainy cornbread flecked with green chiles, scallions, and fresh oregano. It could be served alongside the turkey, or used as a stuffing.

I used stone ground cornmeal from Bob's Red Mill which is quite a bit coarser than the cornmeal I've been using for polenta and spoonbread.

Adapted from About.com's Southern Food

How to make:

Grease an 8" square baking pan and set aside.

Preheat oven to 400F.

1 3/4 cup stone ground cornmeal

3/4 cup King Arthur all purpose flour

1 t. salt

2 t. baking powder

1 1/2 cups milk

1 large egg

4 T. olive oil or bacon drippings

1 T. minced onion

2 T. finely sliced green onions ( scallions)

1 T. finely chopped green chiles ( canned or fresh)

1 T. finely chopped yellow or red sweet pepper

1 T. fresh oregano, finely chopped

Measure the cornmeal, flour, salt, and baking powder into mixer bowl.

In another bowl, mix the milk, egg, and olive oil , then the onion, scallions, chiles, sweet pepper, and fresh oregano. Whisk well.

Add the milk mixture to the dry cornmeal mixture and beat until well incorporated.

Scrape into the prepared pan and bake 25 minutes.

Let cool well before cutting into pieces.

Stay warm and enjoy the season!

green chile spoonbread

The whole time I was making this, my old Southern accent kept creeping out.

"Uh -HUH, got to get mah grits, now!" That one. The one I lost in a big hurry when I moved back up North from Pascagoula, Mississippi. In a fond wave, I'm dedicating this to my kin in Decatur, Alabama.

This is a nice, moist, and easy side to make for Sunday chicken dinner or a roast, or just plain comfort food watching a Sunday movie. The recipe comes straight from an old Lee Bailey cookbook, though I added parsley and more chiles.

You will need:

2 cups milk

2 large eggs

2 T. unsalted butter

2/3 cup cornmeal ( I was tempted to use white grits, but didn't)

salt

1 4 oz can green chiles, drained, minced

2 T. freshly chopped parsley

2 t. baking powder

Preheat oven to 400.

Grease a medium sized souffle dish with butter or crisco.

Combine 2/3 cup milk with the eggs and whisk. Set aside.

In a medium pot, combine remaining milk with the butter and bring to a simmer.

Increase heat and slowly add cornmeal in a steady, but slow stream to the milk and butter , whisking constantly. Stir in the salt and parsley. Remove from heat.

Add milk and egg mix to the hot cornmeal mix, whisking rapidly. Add the chiles. Sprinkle the baking powder on top and mix in.

Pour batter into the souffle dish and grind some pepper on top.

Place in oven for about 30 minutes, or until puffed and golden.

Scoop out servings with a large spoon and enjoy!