Zucchini Green Chilli Cornbread

Sorry it has taken me a few days to get around to posting this recipe but I went out for Sunday lunch to Santiago’s with my friend Stacey and it turned into one of those long lunches that last all day, you know the type, very nice it was too. And Monday is The Washer Up’s only day off so no blogging happens on a Monday.

One of the fields I walk past every morning is this large field of sweetcorn. It was ripe and ready to harvest at least a month ago but it has been left to dry out completely.

I can’t believe that someone would leave a whole field of sweetcorn to rot so I am presuming that they are drying it out so that it can be ground into corn flour.

Let’s talk about the different types of corn flour and their uses. These are the three types that I use regularly.

The one on the left is really fine ground white corn flour, also known as corn starch. Mainly used as a thickener for soups, stews and sauces it has the consistency of baking powder or icing sugar. It is also used a lot in Chinese cooking. They roll the meat in it before frying to make it crispier and it also thickens the sauce at the same time.

The one in the middle is precooked white corn flour (I buy this in Mercadona). It is a South American product I use to make arepas which are small bread like pancakes I serve with these South American Bean Burgers instead of a bun. It is courser ground than corn flour but finer than polenta. I used this to make my cornbread and I use it a lot instead of breadcrumbs as a gluten-free binding agent for all sorts of  things like these corn cakes.

The one on the right is polenta, also known as cornmeal or grits. There are different size grounds of polenta. You can use it to make wet polenta with stock or milk or then bake or fry it in slices. Either way make sure you add lots of flavour too it. I also use polenta as a gluten-free breading agent instead of breadcrumbs to give something a crispy coating or topping. Like in these fried green tomatoes.

The field next to the sweetcorn has these courgettes growing in it. I have had this recipe for Zucchini Cornbread for a while and this felt like the perfect time to make it.

As I said above I used the cornflour in the middle of the picture, the South American precooked Arepa flour to make this because I thought it would be lighter but the original recipe used polenta/cornmeal. The recipe uses half cornflour and half normal flour and the bread turned out to be very light and soft. The Washer Up said the texture was like a Madeira cake!

All the recipes I looked at for cornbread used both flours, I wanted to make a gluten-free version just using the cornflour but as this was my first attempt I followed the recipe. I will definitely try it next time though.

Zucchini Green Chilli Cornbread

Makes 1 small loaf, vegetarian. Adapted from Curry & Comfort

Wet Ingredients:

• 220 ml (1 cup) milk (I used goat’s milk)
• 100 gr (1 cup) grated courgette/zucchini
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 large onion, finely chopped
• 55 ml (1/4 cup) olive oil
• 2 green chillis/jalapenos, finely chopped

Dry Ingredients:

• 190 gr (1  1/4 cups) cornflour (arepa flour) or polenta/cornmeal
• 150 gr plain flour
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 1/2 tsp turmeric (for colour) not necessary if you are using polenta/cornmeal
• 1 few sprigs of fresh thyme leaves removed
• 60 gr (1 cup) grated cheese (I used Manchego & Red Leicester) plus extra for topping

Preheat oven to 180 C. Put all the wet ingredients in one bowl and whisk together well. Sieve the 2 flours into another bowl and add the rest of the dry ingredients to that bowl, mix well.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined, do not over mix or it will be tough.

Oil and flour a loaf tin or baking dish (or line with baking paper). Tip the batter into the loaf tin/baking dish and even out the top.

Bake for 30 minutes then remove from the oven and sprinkle over a thin layer of grated cheese. Return to the oven for 5 minutes or until a cocktail stick stuck in the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool slightly before removing from the tin.

Slice and serve warm or at room temperature.

I served it with my Pisto Con Huevos…

It would also be the perfect accompaniment to this Caribbean Chilli or this Chilli Sin Carne Soup or this Mexican Squash Chilli. Take your pick…