Poblano Spoonbread

By Katie 

My native state is Michigan.  I moved here many years ago, but a few things were foreign to me when I did.

For instance – brisket, fried okra, beans and ham, and country fried steak.  I think I’d had cornbread before, but spoonbread?

Nope.

I’ve been wanting to create a good spoonbread recipe.  When we visited our friends farm, Angela made Corn Pudding and I knew that was going to be good.  It was a gooier version of cornbread but had onions and green peppers in the batter and cheese melted on top.  It was delicious, even though I don’t really care for green peppers that much.  I don’t know why? I love red peppers but not green…anyway, this corn pudding was awesome.

However, my new pepper of choice here in the southwest is the Poblano.  Just roast or grill this baby up and you will love the flavor of it in tacos, enchiladas or quesadillas.

This is really Angela’s recipe, but I tweaked it a little for the poblanos, added some southwest spice, removed the cheese, and doubled it in size.   If you want to make a smaller pan, just cut everything in half.   Here goes!  Meet the Poblano.

Sometimes funky shaped and less spicy than a Jalapeno (and in my humble opinion, way more flavorful), this chile is also known when dried as an ancho chile.

Lop off the heads of the peppers.  I used about one-and-one-half of my peppers to get one cup for this recipe.  Chop it in half again lengthwise and pull out the ribs and seeds.  Just a word of caution..do not touch your eyes at this point.  You’ll be sorry.    Slice each half into long thin strips, then rotate them 90º and cut them into small squares.

Chop up one cup of onions as well.

Melt an entire stick of butter in a frying pan.  I know…I know….just DO it!  Throw in your onions and peppers.

Saute them around a bit and let them cook for around 10 minutes or until they soften up and the onions look translucent.

While that’s cooking, in a separate bowl, crack in 4 eggs and mix them up.

Dump in 2 boxes of Jiffy Corn Muffin mix.

You could use corn meal, flour, blah blah blah…but why?  Just use the 2 nicely packaged boxes.  Pour right over the top of this- two cans of creamed corn and one package of frozen corn (small).  You can also use 2-3 cups of fresh corn cut off the cob or 2 cans of canned corn.  You don’t need to de-thaw the frozen corn.  Just dump it in.

Add one 16 oz. container of sour cream.

Also add 2 tablespoons sugar.

And, add 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper and 1 teaspoon of salt.

Mix it all up real good!

By now your poblanos and onions should be softened.  Dump all of them right into your batter, butter included!

Mix all realllllly well and spoon into your sprayed 9 X 13 pan.

Pop into your oven for about 25-30 minutes.  Stick a fork in the center.  You want this to be somewhat gooey.  It’s not cornbread people it’s SPOONBREAD! If your fork is a little gooey but not super wet, it’s done.

Remove to cool.

I wish I had a shot of this as I dig a big spoon into it.  I was taking this to a party Sunday night and Mr. Wonderful wouldn’t let me dig into it beforehand.  So, just try to imagine, the ultra-moistness of this coming out in a big spoonful onto your plate.  There is a tiny kick from the poblanos.  It is super delicious.

You must try this tonight!

Katie’s Printable Recipe – Poblano Spoonbread

Cooking with Love,

~Katie