So, Ben and I have a bad history with cornbread. Early on in our marriage, I made a 9×9 pan of cornbread and it was absolutely delicious… for days #1 and #2. But then on day #3, things changed. I’ll spare you the details, even though it wasn’t super gross like mold or anything like that… I’m not even sure how to describe it, except to say that the cornbread just turned. Turned for the worst. It was so bad… so fast. I guess that’s how these things go sometimes… and as a result, we’ve become suspicious about our cornbread, often fearing making it ourselves and/or eating it [even if someone else has made it!].
But THIS. THIS cornbread is nothing short of amazing.
Pumpkin + stone-ground blue cornmeal in muffin form=amazing. Did I just say amazing twice? Three times? Sorry, but I’m not sorry… these Pumpkin Cornbread [muffins] are simply the best!
Can we just say that pumpkin makes everything better? [Even endless election talk?] I think so! Please.
This cornbread is everything your typical cornbread needs to be–slightly sweet, soft, yet hearty enough to pair with a great soup or stew for dipping. Yet… this cornbread is a little different. Fall spices, pumpkin, and a hint of molasses make this cornbread incredibly flavorful and different… but not different enough for suspicious eaters [like us, the bad-experience-cornbread-eaters] to reject.
Don’t you love that?
Even though I initially made these for a soup night, I found myself pairing them with a good ‘ole schmear of pumpkin butter for breakfast.
I would never do that with regular cornbread, so I consider that a victory for sure! Enjoy. 🙂
1 cup cornmeal [I used a stone-ground blue cornmeal]
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon molasses
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners or grease well.
In a mixing bowl, stir together flours, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, and cornmeal. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, pumpkin, oil, and molasses. Gently stir wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then spoon into muffin cups.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes clean.
For the month of November, my Secret Recipe Club assignment this month was Aly’s fun and fashionable blog, Cooking in Stilettos. As I say every month, I love being part of the SRC. It’s a fun way to try new blogs and recipes and be part of a great community. If you’ve missed my past SRC posts, the premise is this: you’re assigned a different member’s blog every month. You visit their blog, choose any recipe you want, then make it and share it on your blog… all while keeping your assignment a secret! Everyone else posts about their secret blog the same day. It’s fabulously fun to try out new blogs. If you have a blog, definitely check it out and consider joining! I highly recommend it.
Aly has an amazing collection of recipes on her blog. I had such a hard time just picking one! She is a self-taught cook and draws inspiration for her food from the people and places around her–most notably her grandfather, or as she lovingly called him, her Bampa. I just love Aly’s tribute to him on her blog–I feel the same way about my own grandpa. If I had planned ahead, it would have been fitting to make one of his recipes, but alas–I did not. Instead, I made pretty much the awesomest brunch dish EVER.
This impressive looking Lemon Herb Eggs in Ciabatta looks complicated, but is in fact quite simple to make. [Just don’t tell anyone!] And you know what? It’s as tasty as it looks [even if it sounds weird].
Despite any preconceived notions you might have about what should go with egg, you should definitely give this recipe a fair shot. It’s the most light and refreshing egg dish I have ever had. And eggs aren’t something I would consider to be heavy… but there’s just something about the lemon-herb combo that just squeals “refreshing!!!”
Since lemon isn’t actually mixed with egg, this dish isn’t quite as bizarre as it sounds. The lemon flavor is baked into the crust, also known as the shell for a snappy herb egg bake. In order to achieve this, the ciabatta shell is brushed with a mixture of herb-infused olive oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest… then toasted, prior to adding the egg-herb-bread filling. This gives the bread maximum flavor for minimum effort… especially if you purchase the bread from a bakery, like I did.
I infused my olive oil with an Italian seasoning that is actually intended for olive oil, you know, those gourmet food shop seasoning containers that you’re supposed to add to olive oil for bread dipping and whatnot? Well, that’s all I’ve used mine for actually. Then, for the herb-in-egg mixture, I used fresh parsley, since that pairs so well with lemon. We all know it’s more than that! Aly used chives, but I couldn’t find any fresh so I improvised.It’s not too often that a dish highlights parsley, and I didn’t want the parsley to feel like it was just a garnish. And here, it is so good.
I just don’t have anything more to say about this dish except that it’s so beautiful and stunning and EASY that you should make it this weekend and impress everyone you know. Even those of the feline variety. I was just trying to impress Ben on a recent Saturday morning, but the kitty wanted in on the action too.
2 tablespoons herb-infused olive oil [I just mixed a bit of Italian seasoning with some good extra virgin olive oil]
1 teaspoon lemon juice
zest of half a lemon
4 large eggs
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup milk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Using a paring knife, hollow out the loaf of bread. Reserve for later. Then, mix together olive oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Brush on inside of ciabatta, then place on a baking sheet. Toast for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, cut reserved bread pieces into 1 inch pieces. Next, whisk the eggs, then stir in parsley, Parmesan, pepper, and milk. Add the bread cubes and stir gently to combine.
Remove toasted bread from oven, then pour in egg mixture.
Return to oven and bake for 35-45 minutes or until eggs are fully cooked. Cut into pieces and serve immediately.
Notes: This is best fresh, but leftovers aren’t bad. Just toast in the oven to reheat. Also, original baking time was listed as 35-40 minutes, but mine definitely took 45. If it starts to brown too much on top while baking, just cover with foil.
Be sure to check out the other fabulous recipes posted today [click below] for this week’s SRC reveal. Have a great day!
No recipe for you today, but rather a special announcement. Today I am donating one customizable batch of my Pumpkin Granola to a great cause. Veronica, of Veronica’s Cornucopia, has graciously dreamed up, organized, and is conducting an online bake sale, today, November 2nd, for Suzie, a fellow friend and blogger who fell ill at the beginning of October and needs help paying her medical bills. [You can read more about Suzie’s situation here.] I invite you to come check it out here and bid on my granola or one of the other delicious items until 10 pm CST.
A couple months ago, I received an email from Ginny of Cooking With Chopin to participate in a blog tour for Sarah Fioroni’s brand new cookbook, A Family Farm In Tuscany. I immediately said yes because it was a free cookbook… filled with delicious, authentic Italian recipes. Oh how amazing!
The cookbook cover is beautiful, no? Just wait til you get a copy for yourself and can flip through the pages. This cookbook is more than just recipes… it’s the true story of Sarah’s family farm in Tuscany, Fattoria Poggio Alloro, complete with pages and pages of text, images, and recipes of the farm, season by season. I want to make just about everything featured here!
The publisher describes it as: “In A Family Farm in Tuscany, Sarah Fioroni, chef, cooking instructor, sommelier, and manager of her family’s organic farm near historic San Gimignano, shares stories of family traditions and daily life at Fattoria Poggio Alloro. After moving to the farm in the 1950s to work as sharecroppers, the Fioronis later purchased the farm through their hard work and dedication to the land. They transformed the property into a model of integrated, sustainable agriculture that has been visited by government officials from all over the world and featured in numerous publications, including Organic Gardening magazine.” Is it weird to say I loved every page of this cookbook? I literally could not get enough of the Tuscan countryside.
Photo by Oriano Stefan
I loved getting to hear Sarah’s warmth, beauty, and love of her work really shined in her personal voice throughout the book, as well as in the FAQ section that came with the blogging publicity kit. I would LOVE to go visit the farm in person!!
Photo by Dario Fusar, Organic Gardening
When did the idea of doing a book on Fattoria Poggio Alloro become something you thought you could do?
The idea of a book was something that I thought about a long time. The initial idea was just to write down the story of the Fioroni family as a gift to the family, especially the three brothers, my father Amico, and my uncles, Umberto and Bernardo. But after I began having cooking classes in the States and at the farm, many people asked me about a cookbook. I always had to explain that I did not have one. One day my good friend, Johnnie Weber, told me that I really should think seriously about the idea and took me to the cookbook section of a bookstore to show me how many wonderful cookbooks there were. So when I returned to the farm, I decided to pursue the dream and began to write the first notes in a note book.
What is your favorite time of year on the farm?
May is one of my favorite months, as you see nature change so fast, and after a couple of days of rain, everything becomes so green and beautiful. Amazing colored flowers grow everywhere and it can get pretty hot, but there is still a breeze. I have to admit that snow in the winter is something that I really love too. It is so magical for me.
It was hard to choose a recipe to feature in this blog post, so I enlisted Ben’s help. Together, we decided that Sarah’s recipe for roasted chicken would be just the thing to make. In the colder months, it has become our tradition to make a roasted chicken on Sunday after we get home from church. Usually we just throw together any ‘ole ingredients like herbs, spices, citrus fruits, etc. to make our chicken flavorful. Not this time! This time, we used Sarah’s recipe which features savory sage and rosemary, salty pancetta, tangy garlic, as well as the deep richness that only a dry white wine can provide. I am never making a roasted chicken another way again!
Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but this was just. So. Very. Good.
So moist [sorry], so flavorful, so tender. Don’t let the dark photos turn you away–I waited too long to put this chicken in the oven, and 7 o’clock sunsets aren’t friendly to photography. 😦
If you’ve never tried roasting your own chicken, do try it using this recipe and method. It is so worth it! I used to be scared of handling lots of raw poultry, but it gets easier each and every time [even though Ben still helps with the hard parts]. The rewards–like those first, hot, burn-your-fingers bits of crispy, salty skin–make it so incredible. This chicken was more aromatic and zesty than our ordinary way, thanks to the method of making a garlic paste using 8 cloves and putting seasoning under the skin of the chicken.
I simply cannot have enough words of praise for this recipe and this cookbook. I highly suggest you check it out today. I am so grateful for the chance to review it. Thanks again, Ginny! I will certainly blog about some of the other recipes that are now on my “to make” list–an autumn risotto, yogurt cake, mushroom penne, and more! Oh, if you wish, there’s a link-up below the recipe with links to other stops on the blogger book tour. 🙂
Pollo alla Poggia Alloro/Roasted Chicken Poggia Alloro [from A Family Farm in Tuscany: Recipes and Stories from Fattoria Poggio Alloro by Sarah Fioroni] click to print
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken, about 5 pounds
3 thin slices pancetta [I couldn’t find it so I used prosciutto]
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
3 sprigs fresh sage
8 large garlic cloves, ground to a paste using a mortar and pestle or chef’s knife
salt
freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup dry white wine [I used a Chardonnay]
extra virgin olive oil
Directions:
Rinse the chicken inside and out with cold running water. Drain and pat dry with paper towels. [Don’t forget to sanitize your sink afterwards!] Place in a large baking pan [a 9×13 will work, I also have a ceramic roaster].
Place the pancetta, half the rosemary, 1 sprig sage, and 1 teaspoon of the garlic inside the chicken. Make six small slits in the skin of the chicken. Mince the remaining herbs and place them inside each slit, along with some salt and pepper. Gently massage herbs and seasoning into the chicken. Cover with the remaining garlic along with more salt and pepper. Let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pour wine in baking dish, then brush olive oil over chicken to lightly coat. Bake for 20 minutes, then flip chicken on breast and bake for another 40 minutes. Then flip chicken again to the back and bake for 30 minutes or until fully cooked. [Meat thermometer reading 170 degrees F/76 degrees C.] Remove from oven and rest for 7 minutes before carving.
Time: 3-4 hours.
Yield: 8 servings.
Check out other blogger’s takes on this cookbook here:
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