Skillet Corn Bread with Red Bell Pepper

 

      I found this corn bread recipe from a July 2002 issue of Bon Appetit to accompany the pot of Bloody Mary Chili I recently made.  Not overly sweet, with a touch of heat from the hot pepper sauce and a topping of roasted red pepper and scallions, it's pretty to look at and very tasty as well.  Be sure to oil your dutch oven with shortening to help give it a crispy, golden crust.  In my 10 inch oven it baked for exactly 25 minutes with 10 coals in a ring around the bottom and 22 on the lid.  The winds were gusting quite strong today, as a reminder, your coals will burn faster on windy days so it's a good idea to rotate your lid every 10 minutes or so to help them burn more evenly.  This is a perfect corn bread for mopping up the spicy juices of your favorite chili.

Skillet Corn Bread with Red Bell Pepper
1 jarred roasted red bell pepper, cut in 1/3 inch wide strips
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2 Tblsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup canned creamed corn
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 large egg
1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce
2 green onions, sliced

     Generously coat 10 inch dutch oven with vegetable shortening.
     Whisk flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl to blend.
     Whisk buttermilk, creamed corn, melted butter, egg and hot pepper sauce in medium bowl to blend.
     Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir just until moistened.
     Transfer batter to prepared dutch oven.
     Arrange bell pepper strips in spoke pattern atop batter.
     Sprinkle with sliced green onions.
     Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until tester inserted in center comes out clean.
     Cool in dutch oven for 15 minutes.
     Serve warm from dutch oven.

Arrange red pepper strips on corn bread batter then sprinkle
with green onions

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 400 degrees

A dressed up corn bread with a little heat