Many years ago when I lived in Tucson, Arizona, I was lucky enough to have neighbors of Mexican descent who were great cooks. From them I learned how to make tamales and other delicious Mexican dishes. This is one of them.
This is a layered cornbread loaf that has roasted green chiles and cheese. It can be eaten warm, at room temperature or cold. It is great served with chili or some other spicy dish. Any leftovers can be eaten chilled the next day as part of a lunch. Unlike other cornbread recipes, this one is gluten free
This is easy to make, but takes a full hour to bake. I made this for a family birthday dinner this past week and got just enough left over to eat for my lunch the next day.
Batter for Mexican cornbread loaf with roasted green chiles and cheese ready to bake. (Photo by Patty Schied)
Ingredients:
Two eggs
1 14-oz. can of creamed corn
¾ cup whole milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup of cornmeal
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups grated mild cheddar cheese or Monterey Jack, grated
1 7 oz can of mild green chiles, chopped (or three Anaheim or Poblano peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded and chopped)
Ingredients for Mexican cornbread loaf with roasted green chiles and cheese. (Photo by Patty Schied)
Directions:
Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Line a bread pan with two strips of parchment paper, spraying the paper with cooking oil so that both strips of the parchment paper will stick together. Leave enough paper overhang on the sides and at the ends so that it can be used to lift the baked loaf from the pan.
Whisk eggs in bowl. Add all other ingredients except for cheese and green chiles. Mix thoroughly.
Pour about one-third of batter into lined loaf pan. Sprinkle half of grated cheese onto batter, then scatter one-half of the chopped green chiles onto cheese. Add another third of the batter, and sprinkle on the remaining cheese and green chiles. Carefully spread the remaining batter on top.
Bake loaf for an hour until it is golden brown. Remove from oven and let sit on rack for about 10 minutes. Using the extra length of the parchment paper, lift loaf from pan and let it cool for another 10 minutes before carefully removing the paper and placing loaf onto a serving plate.
At this point, the cornbread is ready to eat.
Optional: If you want to add more spice to your cornbread, add more green chilies or some finely minced Serrano or Jalapeno peppers.
• Patty Schied is a longtime Juneau resident who studied at the Cordon Bleu in London, has cooked meals for both AWARE and the Glory Hall, and has written a cookbook. Cooking For Pleasure appears every other week in Capital City Weekly.
