Cornbread � how I love thee

When I�ve been to the US, cornbread has been one of my favourite things to eat. It�s not at all eaten here, nor are really any other kinds of sweet bread. I made sure I had cornbread as often as I could when visiting, but sadly, I never learnt how to make it myself. Indeed, I had some vague notion that you could only make it from mix. (It says something about the people I�m generally staying with when I�m visiting � neither has been big on from-scratch-cooking.) Anyway, so I usually bought a couple of boxes of mix to take home� but there�s always an end to that.

So, when I was cooking for Thanksgiving, I read Nigella�s recipe in Feast for Cornbread stuffing with orange and cranberries. It included, naturally, cornbread. From scratch. I had my doubts, but whipped up a batch for the stuffing. It. Was. Perfect. Perfect. Incredibly super-delicious! Sadly, most of that batch actually had to go in the stuffing, but there was enough to spare one big slice for me, and a small one for Per. (Who is much less of a fan than I am, so I felt it was fair.) I liked it so much I had to make a second batch to serve just as cornbread muffins, with the rest of the meal. And now I want to make it over, and over again. I can�t believe it was so easy!

This is a recipe I really need to share � thank you Nigella, this is *it*!

Nigella�s cornbread (from Feast)

175 g polenta (or cornmeal � this was a real revelation for me. Cornmeal is not available here, but polenta certainly is. You can use *that*?? was my first thought.)
125 g plain flour
45 g sugar
1 fat pinch of salt (as Nigella aptly puts it � I use salted butter, so I use a little less)
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 egg
45 g melted butter (she specifies unsalted, but salted worked perfectly)
250 ml full fat milk (I�ll try it with a less fat milk next time, since I never have full-fat in the house.)

Mix the dry ingredients. Beat the egg a little bit, and mix with butter and milk. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, mix lightly. And that�s it! Pour into a suitable mold � I made the first batch in a regular springform pan since it was just going to get crumbled for stuffing anyway, and the second batch in muffin tins. Bake at 200 degrees Centigrade for 15-20 minutes. The cornbread should be golden, and start pulling away a little from the sides.