You know when you eat something that you haven’t had or haven’t had in a long time and it’s all you want to eat?
I am having a moment with apples and onions. Roasted and raw, it’s on my mind every time I am making food. Weird? I don’t know, but it’s sweet and savory and all fall like and comforting. It’s a good moment.
So now I am passing on my moment in the form of cornbread. Why cornbread? Well I think cornbread is a fine fine vessel for things that could be perceived sweet of savory. This cornbread is in fact not sweet, but not not sweet. It is a little both and suits the the apple and onion moment quite well.
People ate it, at first somewhat suspect that it was not going to be good, but after a bite or two they too appreciated the apple onion combination. And the cornbread. Even got a lady that doesn't even like cornbread to like this so that is something right?
Embrace the moments.. To the cornbread!
The stuff. A couple apples, an onion, cornmeal, flour, salt, and baking soda. Also soy milk, oil, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, pepper, Sansa little earth balance.
Start by thinly slicing the onions. Toss them into a oven safe skillet with about a tablespoon of earth balance and place on a medium heat.
Once the onions are cooking, thinly slice the apples too.
Toss the apples in with the onions and stir around wait a few minutes and stir around some more until the stuff all looks like…
This. The apples ans onions are super tender sans soft and amazing and do not eat them all, but maybe have bite or two.
Scoop the mixture out of the skillet ans melt another tablespoon of earth balance into the skillet, trying to evenly coat the bottom.
Now to the cornbread. Mix together all of the dry ingredients.
Then add in all the wet and gently mix until completely incorporated.
Pour the batter into the greased skillet
Top with the apple union mixture then pop into the oven for about 40-45 minutes to bake.
Golden crisp and amazing smelling. Check for donees with a tester stuck in the middle and when its done, its done.
Now the hard part. Let it cool. You can go right at it, but it will crumble and fall apart. This bread really needs a little time to chill.
Then it’s time. Eat what you need. Careful, it might be all of it.
-C
Caramelized Onion and Apple Cornbread
makes a 10 inch round skillet of bread
1 1/2 cups cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cups soy or other plant based milk
2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup neutral oil like canola
1 large onion
2 apples (macon or mac)
2 tablespoon earth balance or vegan butter
Pepper
Note. This bread is baked in a cast iron skillet. If you don’t have one, you can use a 10 inch cake pan or a 9x9 square pan.
Preheat oven to 400
Start by cutting the onion in half length wise then slice the halves into very thing pieces. Grab a 8-10 inch oven safe skillet and place on medium heat with about a tablespoon of butter. Add in the onions, stir around, and let cook. Grab the apples, remove the cores and slice into thin pieces. Add the apples to the onions and stir. Keep cooking and stirring until the apples and onions are very tender and starting to brown. Place the mixture into a bowl then coat the bottom and sides of the skillet again with another tablespoon of butter. Set skillet aside for a minute.
For the cornbread, mix together the flour, cornmeal, salt, and baking soda in large bowl. Add in the soy milk, maple, oil, and vinegar and gently mix until completely incorporated and there are no big lumps. Pour batter into the greased skillet. Evenly top with the apple onion mixture, sprinkle with a little pepper, then pop the skillet into the preheated oven. Bake for about 40-45 minutes or until it’s a nice dark golden brown and a taster stuck in the middle comes out clean. Once cooked, remove from oven and let cool for at least a half hour. The cornbread needs the time to cool or else it will cut really crumbly.
Once cooled, eat. Left overs can be stored in airtight box at room temperature for a day, but any longer it should go into the fridge.