Poblano-Pepper Jack Corn Bread

Cornbread is such a southern staple. It is perfect all by itself, or you can pair it with a big bowl of vegetable soup or some soup beans and you have what could possibly be the perfect meal. Or if you're like the Husband, you can crumble a few wedges up in a glass of cold milk. Not really my thing, but he loves it. This recipe says cornbread in the title, but the end result is more like corn cake. Kind of spongy, maybe even a little tiny bit sweet, but very good.

Poblano-Pepper Jack Cornbread

ACTIVE: 25 MIN
TOTAL TIME: 1 HR 45 MIN
Ingredients
1 medium poblano chile
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, 6 tablespoons melted
1 small onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/2 cup thawed frozen corn kernels
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 large eggs, beaten
4 ounces pepper jack cheese, shredded (1 1/4 cups)

Light a grill or preheat the broiler. Grill or broil the poblano, turning frequently, until charred all over, about 4 minutes. Transfer the chile to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let stand for 15 minutes. Peel and seed the poblano and cut it into 1/4-inch dice.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Lightly butter an 8-inch round cake pan. In a medium skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the onion and cook over moderately high heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the poblano and corn and cook until heated through, about 1 minute.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour with the cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the 6 tablespoons of melted butter along with the milk and eggs and whisk until just incorporated. Fold in the poblano-corn mixture and 3/4 cup of the pepper jack cheese. Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan and sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese on top.

Bake the cornbread for 35 minutes, until the top is light golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the cornbread to a rack to cool for 20 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cornbread, turn it out onto the rack and let cool slightly. Cut the cornbread into wedges and serve warm.

One of the recipes the Husband graciously bestowed upon me during our marriage was his cornbread recipe. I don't know exactly who in the family was responsible for it, but it's a simple, solid recipe with four basic ingredients. This is all to say that I'm not used to a cornbread recipe taking as many ingredients as this one does. But, they're all important. The corn gives it some sweet (plus the little bit of sugar), the poblano and pepper jack cheese give it some heat, and all that butter just brings it home.

This was more of a cakey texture than regular dense cornbread. I was also unfamiliar with baking cornbread in a vessel other than a cast iron skillet, but the cake pan worked well. The batter filled the cake pan to the top and I was a smidge concerned that it would overflow in the oven, but that didn't come close to happening.

One thing I changed was that I reserved the shredded pepper jack that you're supposed to put on top of the batter before it goes in the oven. In my experience, super heating cheese like that in the oven results in an inedible mess that first melts and then solidifies under the heat. So I held off until the cornbread was done, then I sprinkled the shredded pepper jack on top , put it back under the broiler for about 30 seconds, and then took it out.

This was really good! The corn and diced poblano were a nice punch with each bite and the cheese that had been mixed into the batter was melted and stringy. Not your grandmother's cornbread, that's for sure. But this would go very well with some chili or even vegetable soup.