Barbeque at Nadine and Mike's

Saturday September 20

Mike and Nadine threw a festival start of the season barbeque for the Department. There were so many dishes that we're afraid they've all sort of run together in the memory—should have taken more notes (or pictures). Our hostess's own (or rather, her mother's, if I recall correctly) gingered chicken stands out. Our contribution was cornbread. A new and I think it will become a house favorite.

It's done almost like a cake, with butter cut into the dry ingredients. I had already made roasted red peppers earlier in the week and we had scored some corn at the market. Here's the recipe. The only changes I made was to eliminate the basil (not in fact a flavor that goes well with the others) and to substitute milk and a dollop of yogurt for the buttermilk. All the butter makes a cornbread that's exceptionally moist and keeps surprisingly long.

8 tablespoons (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup chopped onion
1 3/4 cups yellow cornmeal
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (milk +yogurt)
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups (lightly packed) grated Monterey Jack cheese (about 6 ounces)
1 1/3 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed, drained
1/2 cup drained chopped roasted red peppers from jar

preparation

Preheat oven to 400°F. Butter 9x9x2-inch baking pan. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in medium nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion and sauté until tender, about 10 minutes. Cool.
Mix cornmeal and next 5 ingredients in large bowl. Add 7 tablespoons butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Whisk buttermilk and eggs in medium bowl to blend. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir until blended. Mix in cheese, corn, red peppers, basil and onion. Transfer to prepared pan.

Bake corn bread until golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool 20 minutes in pan on rack. (Can be prepared 8 hours ahead. Cool completely. Cover loosely with foil and let stand at room temperature. If desired, rewarm in 350°F oven about 10 minutes.)