You may have noticed that I haven’t mentioned my kitchen renovation project in a little while. That’s not to say things haven’t quietly (not literally quietly of course: there’s drilling involved) been progressing all this while. In fact we hit a major milestone this past Friday – the folding doors to the garden were installed and not a moment too soon as the weather has taken a turn for the decidedly wintry. The first time I tried to open them… the key got stuck. Not just a little stuck – it would not budge and I couldn’t even remove it. I did have a few panicked moments where I thought I broke the door before ever opening it… thankfully the installer was able to come back and fix the recalcitrant key. Now we just have to figure out a way for Xander to operate it as there is no catflap…

kitchen! We visited a few showrooms and returned to Ikea one more time but the kitchen we fell for was, sadly, a bit over our budget. We dithered endlessly but in the end common sense prevailed (not mine – I have no sense, common or otherwise). Fingers crossed we can order this only slightly more affordable kitchen and maybe, just maybe, be in with half a chance of having an (almost) finished project by Christmas. With all this going on in the wings can you blame me for craving comfort food? But apart from the doors and the underfloor heating – being put in as I type this – we still haven’t decided on a! We visited a few showrooms and returned to Ikea one more time but the kitchen we fell for was, sadly, a bit over our budget. We dithered endlessly but in the end common sense prevailed (not mine – I have no sense, common or otherwise). Fingers crossed we can order this only slightly more affordable kitchen and maybe, just maybe, be in with half a chance of having an (almost) finished project by Christmas. With all this going on in the wings can you blame me for craving

This Coriander Chilli Cornbread was made as a last minute side to a super-healthy Turkey Quinoa Chilli (which I will post very soon). It takes barely five minutes to throw together and it is just incredibly delicious. I actually think cornbread is way more addictive than chocolate or biscuits – I personally cannot stop at one slice especially when it is still warm from the oven.





Coriander Chilli Cornbread

190g | 1 1/4 cup self-raising flour

160g | 1 cup cornmeal

125g | 1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp mustard powder

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

240ml | scant 1 cup milk mixed with juice of 1 lemon

2 medium eggs

120ml | 1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tbsp finely chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves

1 tbsp finely chopped red chilli

60g | 2oz grated Cheddar cheese

1-2 tbsp honey or agave syrup

Method

Preheat the oven to 190C (375F). Line a small bread tin with baking paper and grease lightly. Pour the milk into a measuring jug and add the lemon juice. Set aside. Put the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, soda bicarb, paprika and mustard powder in a large bowl and mix together with a fork. Add the oil, eggs, chilli and coriander to the milk and mix together with a fork. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and mix together lightly with a spatula. Add the grated cheese and fold in. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 45-50 minutes, covering the cornbread with some foil after 30 minutes if it is colouring too much. Drizzle with a little honey or agave syrup and serve with chilli, soup or just on its own with a little butter -heavenly!

Notes: You can make this in a muffin tin – reduce the baking time to 35 minutes.

Instead of soured milk you can use buttermilk or Greek yoghurt – leave out the lemon juice if you do.

In the very unlikely event you have leftovers, cube the stale cornbread and fry with a little olive oil to create delicious croutons.