Best cornbread ever

After a long nap and a hot cup of tea, with the rain and sleet hitting the roof hard, I decided to make cornbread to accompany dinner. My Love made insanely delicious smelling chili the night before in preparation for dinner the next night (because day-old chili is far superior taste-wise to same-day chili). Not to put too fine a point on it, but I stumbled upon the greatest cornbread recipe ever. My Love is a Professional Chef so his compliments mean more to me than most. Additionally, he doesn't suck at his job, so the pressure is really on in our kitchen. He makes things in a quarter of the time and about a million times tastier than I do. It's really wonderful/terrible. I didn't cook anything beyond grilled sandwiches or cookies the first few years we dated. Too intimidated. Finally I realized a few key things that one should bear in mind when cooking for professionals:

1. Everyone, and I mean everyone, loves being cooked for. I love salads. But my favorite salads are ones I do not make myself! Grilled cheese, hash browns, a fried egg sandwich, even the simplest of foods are the most delicious and special if you don't have to make them yourself.

2. A few tricks to make anything taste better: there is no thing as too much butter. Add onions and garlic to anything that is not dessert because they smell amazing and add another level of flavor. Sriracha is the bomb.

3. People in the food business we were/are in (working full time in restaurants/lodges) hardly ever have the chance to eat home cooked food. If I told you how many times we ate Sonic or subs for dinner after work, I'd have to hang my head in shame. In my defense, it was delicious and I regret nothing!

4. See #1

5. The simplest things are the best. Stick with what you know and it's all gravy.

I make a mean quiche, great cookies, awesome mashed cauliflower, and a badass fried rice. In the summers when he is in Alaska I try new things and tweak them until they are perfect and I feel competent in preparing them. This past summer I added a great pasta dish, the perfect quiche/pie crust, and olive oil and sea salt rubbed baked potatoes. Winning! This summer I want to add something with tomatoes, a bean dish, and some sort of meat.

To attempt to get back on subject, here is the cornbread recipe that will blow your mind. It is insane. Promise. If my love tells me it's the best cornbread he has ever had, I will ONLY serve this cornbread from now on, and strongly encourage you to do the same. I've added a few notes about changes I made. I wanted a slightly sweet recipe (that's how we had it growing up and to me that is what cornbread should taste like) that didn't call for much milk. We were out of milk and only had a partial carton of half and half. It was rather more difficult than I had anticipated finding a recipe that called for less than a cup of milk. Just a heads up.

Also? For the record he is always complimentary of my cooking (even when it most assuredly does not deserve it) but he doesn't gush about it. For him it is more the act of being cooked for, and less the actual food. So, for him to say it is the best he has ever had, he wasn't being simply a sweet husband (which he is always) it really carries weight with him.

Cornbread recipe adapted from allrecipes.com

 

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda  

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 cup sour cream ------I used nonfat greek yogurt. I would prefer 2% or whole but that's all the store had. We actually never buy sour cream any more, we only use greek yogurt. It seems to last longer and can be made into dessert or breakfast far more easily than sour cream. To reiterate: greek yogurt substitutions of any fat percentage are totally acceptable.

1/3 cup milk  -----------I used some half and half and watered it down since we were out of milk.

1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking dish.----I used a cast iron skillet, of average size, and it was perfect.
2. Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Mix egg, sour cream, milk, and butter in a small bowl. Fold egg mixture into flour mixture until just moistened; pour into prepared baking dish.-----I've made cornbread before and this seemed too dry. The batter was so solid I didn't think it would even pour into the skillet, so I added another 1/4 cup water and it did the trick perfectly.
3. Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve warm.

It was awesome and we ate nearly all of it throughout the night. It was so good, and my Love was so enthusiastic about it, I may make it this weekend to have with fried eggs and bacon for breakfast.