Have you ever “misplaced”  something in your own home that you absolutely knew you had laid your eyes on just days before?  It was right there, and then magically, or better yet, mysteriously, it went missing.  You think you are loosing your mind.  Well, suffice it to say that this recipe actually calls for blue cornmeal.  Let me also say, that assuming you have blue cornmeal, and you don’t misplace it as I did mine,  then by all means use it in this recipe.

Cornbread and I go way back.   From the unsweetened, coarse grain, baked in a cast iron skillet version – to the little box picturing a corn muffin on the front and wielding an almost cake-like sweetness –  it took many years to settle on my palette’s preference for this southern staple.  When it comes to cornbread, there is quite a debate about what constitutes “authentic”.  Ask a dozen people and you will get a dozen different answers.  But in the end, it is the subtlety sweetened and finer crumb version that covers all the bases for what I require out of a cornbread.  After that, the variations are endless – as this recipe shows.  Going one step further, I topped mine with softened butter mixed with finely diced shallots and some minced cilantro.  A sprinkling of Aleppo Pepper ( if you haven’t discovered it yet I highly recommend you check it out) adds a final layer of color and flavor.

Aside from cornbread, my relationship with ground corn started out slowly, building as my exposure to dishes like grits, hush puppies, johnnycakes  and polenta (in that order) crossed my path.  When I was a young girl my family took a trip to the south.  Grits were on every menu and my parents insisted we give them a try.  Not a great first encounter.  I wasn’t sure what all the hype was about.  Fast forward many years – a second chance and I became an instant fan.  Now, I could eat cornmeal in some form every single day.  I find it to be both satisfying and soothing – comfort food at its best.

As for the missing “blue” cornmeal I knew was somewhere in the house – yep, there it was.  The day after baking this recipe, I opened the door to my refrigerator (I store grains there to maintain freshness) and it was staring right at me.  (Did I mention that my hunt had taken me there three different times.)  Hopefully, this will be one post that my husband doesn’t read.  I can’t tell you how often he will be searching for something in the refrigerator and asks me where it is because he can’t find it.  After retrieving for him the item in question, my response is always the same.  With a bit of a condescending tone – I say – “you know, if it were a snake , it would have bitten you.  Boy, will I be eating crow after this one!