Any Way You Want It

I doubt that Journey was referring to Cornbread in their 1980 hit. 

Just look at that hair! I love it! LOL.

But back to cornbread. Cornbread is one of those dishes that you can easily customize to suit your own tastes. Personally Mike and I prefer it spicy and cheesy, but the kids aren’t big fans of heat. So while we were in Maine we created a version that they would find more appetizing.

This recipe is a blend between one that Greg over at Rufus’ Food and Spirits Guide created a few weeks back, and a the version that Mr. N and I made at his cooking class back in June. We started by mixing all the dry ingredients in one bowl – corn meal, flour, sea salt and baking powder. Then we mixed all the wet ingredients in another bowl – honey, eggs and buttermilk. Next we made a well in the dry ingredients, poured the wet ingredients into the well and combined.

For our “custom” ingredients we used what we had on hand, frozen corn kernels, Vermont two-year aged Cheddar cheese and chives. 

We combined everything together and poured it into a greased cast-iron skillet. Greg’s fancy cornbread pan was my inspiration for this baking method. 

We baked the cornbread for 25 minutes at 425F. Make sure to use a good hot pad because this skillet will be HOT!

This cornbread was a great side dish for all of our lobster recipes. It would also make a great accompaniment to many other summer dishes. We served it hot and with lots of butter – real butter (it was vacation after all).

Mike and I both enjoyed the cornbread. The cheese always adds a touch of creamy goodness to the course texture of the cornmeal. We each gave it 3 spoons. Mr. N likes anything with lots of butter so he too gave it 3 spoons. Miss A ate about half of her piece, but wasn’t really excited about it. It’s just not the same as her sourdough. So she gave it 2 spoons.

Mike and I still prefer the spicy version (with jalapenos), but this was a nice mild version of cornbread. I’m sure we’ll make some variation of this again. That said, the fun part about cornbread to me is that each time we can make it a little bit different.

Print this recipe: Cornbread

24 thoughts on “Any Way You Want It”

  1. Charles says:
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    Cornbread isn’t at all common in Europe. My wife “travels” a lot online and reads about a lot of different stuff and made me some one day… I’m sold! That stuff, hot from the oven with butter, holy cow it’s good! Plus you can chop it up and serve it in a salad when cold the next day! Love the idea of adding cheese… cheesey cornbread…. mmmmnomnom

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  2. spicegirlfla says:
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    Real butter is the way to go! And this bread looks amazing! I use a cast iron skillet also for my cornbread; it just looks so fitting like you could cook it on an open fire! I like that you added in the corn for extra texture and a great choice in cheese!!

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  5. Kelly says:
    Reply

    Love the cornbread in the cast iron skillet and the aged cheddar sounds divine. Heat works for me too (as does Journey! Funny thing is, some of these guys look fantastic today – have you seen Peter Frampton lately? Yikes, I’m aging myself…:)) Lobster and cornbread sounds like a winner combo to me. I’m enjoying the Maine theme…

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  9. Kay aka Babygirl says:
    Reply

    Let me just say that you are definitely a southern woman right now Kristy. SOOO A southern woman ;).. because you are making cornbread in a cast iron pan. My mother loved this post let me just say :). And that hair was definitely something else

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  10. A_Boleyn says:
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    You’re cornbread looks marvellous. I have the same pan and our recipes are similar with whole corn kernels, old cheddar cheese and jalapeno peppers. Occasionally, I add diced cooked bacon to my cornbread. 🙂

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