Funny elvish pumpkin cornbread
Funny elvish pumpkin cornbread
My mother baked a batch of this the other day! And I have got to say it is possibly one of the oddest things you could ever make! It doesn’t really taste like bread and it almost certainly does not look like bread. It is fairly moist but is still light-tasting and has a definite pumpkin taste, but the texture is somewhat crumbly.
It has a very golden colour giving it a somewhat magical, some might say *elvish* appearance, and hence its name. I’m not really sure what meal time or indeed which food group this *food item* could be categorized under. Nevertheless, it is quite fun to nibble on and it does go down well with hot soups.
Funny elvish pumpkin cornbread
Ingredients: 375g pumpkin de-seeded, peeled and cut into 3cm slices, 150g fine yellow polenta, 1 ½ tbsp plain flour, 3 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda, ¼ tsp ground nutmeg, 45g butter, ¾ cup milk, 1 egg lightly beaten, 100g pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
Steps: Steam the pumpkin for about 20 minutes or until tender, drain well then mash in a large bowl and set aside. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Combine the polenta, flour, baking powder, salt, bicarbonate of soda and nutmeg in a large bowl and stir, then set aside. Put the butter into a 20cm square tin and put in the oven to allow the butter to melt. Stir the milk and egg into the mashed pumpkin.
Once the butter has melted, remove the tin from the oven and use a small brush to coat all the insides of the tin with the melted butter, then tip the excess butter into the pumpkin mixture, and stir. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Transfer the batter to the cake tin and smooth the surface, then scatter pepitas over the top. Bake for 25 minutes in preheated oven or until the bread is a light golden colour. Remove from the oven and cool in tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Cut into slices and serve warm or at room temperature.
Makes 1 tray
