Cornbread usually plays the second (or third) fiddle in a feast. But not this one. “[It’s] good enough to take centrestage at the dinner table and will probably end up being the dish around which you plan the meal,” writes cook and author Ixta Belfridge in her cookbook Mezcla.
Belfridge cut her teeth with veggie king Yotam Ottolenghi – working at his London restaurant Nopi and in the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen, where she co-wrote the influential recipe book Flavour. And her own first cookbook, released in 2022, is just as bright and bold. The eye-popping pink and tangerine cover opens to dozens of everyday salads, dinner party-ready show-stoppers and magnificent desserts.
This experimental cornbread recipe is equally appropriate for having friends over or weeknight girl dinners. “The corn that bejewels the surface is best just out of the oven when it’s a little crispy from the butter, and a little sticky from the maple syrup,” writes Belfridge.
Plus, it’s just as delicious when you pull it from the fridge the next day. Simply pan-fry it to reignite the crisp, or heat an oven to 150°C fan/170°C and warm it for about 10 minutes. Belfridge’s final tip? Serve it with plenty of butter on the side, of course.
Ixta Belfrage’s brown butter curried cornbread
Serves 6
Ingredients
140g unsalted butter, plus extra to serve
500g frozen corn kernels, defrosted and patted dry
150g Greek-style yoghurt
2 large eggs
1 Scotch bonnet (habanero) chilli, finely chopped (optional, see notes)
1 spring onion, finely chopped
5g fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
1½ tsp medium curry powder
1½ tsp finely grated lime zest 100g quick-cook polenta
80g plain flour
½ tsp fine salt
6 tbsp maple syrup, plus extra to serve
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda flaked salt, to serve
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C fan/220°C. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin.
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over a medium heat for 5–6 minutes, stirring often until the butter foams and then turns a deep golden-brown. Add the corn and bubble away for 4 minutes, stirring every so often. Remove from the heat and leave to cool for 10 minutes.
While the corn and butter mixture is cooling, put the yoghurt, eggs, Scotch bonnet, spring onion, ginger, curry powder, lime zest, polenta, flour, salt and 3 tbsp of maple syrup into a food processor, but don’t blitz yet.
Once cool, set aside 140g of the corn and butter mixture in a small bowl to use later. Add the remaining corn and butter to the food processor, then add the baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Pulse about 3–5 times, just until the mixture comes together. Don’t overmix, you want a textured batter with small chunks of corn, not a smooth batter.
Transfer the batter into the prepared tin, then spoon the reserved corn and butter evenly over the surface.
Bake for 20 minutes, then evenly drizzle over the remaining 3 tablespoons of maple syrup and bake for another 15–20 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown on top.
Leave to cool for 15 minutes. If you have a blowtorch, use it to char the corn in places. Drizzle over some more maple syrup (I like a lot!), sprinkle with flaked salt and serve with a slab of butter alongside.
Note
Belfridge uses a whole Scotch bonnet (habanero), and says that its flavour and heat is quite dominant. If you want less heat, she suggests adding less while cooking (removing the pith and seeds) or simply adding a pinch of regular chilli flakes.
Additional reporting by Pilar Mitchell.
