Christina Tosi’s Cornbake + a recipe contest!

I have a loooooong list of places that I want to visit (read: eat at) when I someday travel around the country. I could go on, but a few places include:

• The Pancake Pantry (Nashville, TN)
• The Griddle Cafe (Hollywood, CA)
• Clinton Street Baking Company (NY, NY, after reading a rave review about their pancakes)
• Momofuku Milk Bar (NY, NY. Yes, I really  haven’t been there yet.)

But here’s another one for the books: Tupelo Honey Cafe. They’re in Asheville, NC and Knoxville, TN. Um, when am I going to get over there? Probably never. Which is a shame because they’re all about marrying Southern tradition (hello, TEXAS!) and “vibrant, refashioned flavors” which means hello TOFU wings! deep fried grits and veggie melts with fried green tomatoes and caramelized onions and brown butter pecan pie! Get me there now.

They’re also having a recipe contest. And I want you to win.

They’re looking for festive holiday fare that will impress Tupelo’s top chef, Brian Sonoskus. You can submit holiday-inspired recipes to three categories: sides, desserts and leftovers. One winner will be chosen for each category.

Here are the deets:

Who: YOU!
What: A recipe contest featuring your best holiday-inspired recipes that are either sides, desserts or leftovers. All entries will be judged by Chef Brian Sonoskus and his hungry team of taste-testers!
When: October 1-November 16
Where: Your kitchen!
Why: Three winners (announced 12/3), will receive a $200 gift card to the Tupelo Honey Cafe Online Store or at one of their restaurants. Plus, for each week of the contest, one lucky participant will randomly win a copy of their cookbook: Tupelo Honey Cafe: Spirited Recipes from Asheville’s New South Kitchen.

I am a bit tardy in telling you about this, and for that I apologize. But hey, procrastination breeds winners, they say 🙂 You can find more details and updates on the weekly winners on Facebook! Tupelo Cafe sounds like the cutest place ever. For realz.

You know what I’ll be making!

• Cornbread 
• pancakes
• goat cheese grits pancakes
• fried green tomato cornbread
• deep fried honey glazed pancakes
• quinoa sweet potato home fries
• fried okra-stuffed cupcakes
• black-eyed-pea and chickpea brownies…

…or do you?

Okay, it’s time to talk to you about the photos I’ve been bombarding you with–that yellow thing? It’s not cornbread. It’s a cornBAKE! And that is because this is a recipe by Christina Tosi of Momofuku geniusness. So of course, it’s more cake-like than cornbread-like. It’s dense. As in, I tried to swing it out of the oven single-handedly and my wrist almost gave out. It wasn’t light and crumbly like the vegan cornbread I’d taken out of the oven two minutes before–it’s heavy because it’s suuuuper moist. But it also has a fairly airy crumb that just sinks in onto itself when you delve in with a fork. It’s unabashedly buttery and speckled with bright, sweet pops of corn.

It’s “smooth” and “just luscious” according to my boyfriend (who was a fan). We ate chunks of it alongside sweet potato veggie burgers and salad, for breakfast, standing up and leaning over the sink to catch the crumbs, and I took it for work to make my Tuesday that much better.

Um, you wanna talk about motivation to enter this recipe contest? MAKE THIS!

Notes

Tosi recommends you make it in a 10″ cast-iron skillet and I have no doubt it would be better that way, but I’m here to tell you that a regular old cake pan will also work. I made this in a 10″ cake pan and it was a LOT of cornbake. If the measurements look funny to you, it’s because I two-thirds-ed the recipe. And I think it was a totally sufficient amount of cornbake, but definitely feel free to follow the original recipe (linked below). What to do with the tiny bit of creamed corn and canned corn that you’ll have left after making this? Make the companion recipe that I devised–an incredibly crumbly but light vegan cornbread. Coming soon!

The original recipe called for sour cream; I used plain Greek yogurt since as a rule, I never use sour cream or mayo if I can help it. I just don’t like them, even if I can’t taste them. If you like, I think you could sub in all white whole wheat flour.

Lastly, this cornbake is so rich, I think it could stand to have a little less butter or yogurt. The next time I make it, I am cutting out at least a tablespoon or two of butter and maybe yogurt and we’ll see how that turns out!

Christina Tosi’s Cornbake
Adapted from Country Living

1/3 + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/3 cup white whole wheat flour
2/3 cup cornmeal
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
2/3 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 can (14-ounce) cream-style corn (1/2 cup + 1/3 cup)
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 Egg, lightly beaten
2 Egg Yolks, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon Honey, plus more for drizzling
2/3 tablespoon buttermilk (I used almond breeze + a tiny splash vinegar)
2/3 cup canned, frozen or fresh corn kernels
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
sea salt, for finishing

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine first 7 ingredients through baking soda. In a medium bowl, combine cream-style corn, yogurt, egg, egg yolks, honey, and buttermilk. Stir in corn kernels and butter. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Pour batter into a greased 10-inch cast-iron skillet or a 9″ cake pan. Bake until golden brown, 30 minutes. Drizzle with honey and sprinkle on sea salt.

You might also like:

Pancake Fridays: Cornbread Pancakes
Best Cakey Cornbread