The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Make South City Kitchen’s spoonbread
I had never even heard of spoonbread until I saw it on the menu at South City Kitchen in Midtown. They serve it topped with smoked pulled pork, caramelized onions, poblano peppers and white barbecue sauce. The combination was delicious, but we loved the spoonbread itself and would love to make it at home. Will they share the recipe?
ATLANTA
When South City Kitchen’s culinary director Chip Ulbrich sent the recipe, he wrote, “The inspiration behind this dish at South City Kitchen was to offer a sharable, crave-able appetizer that spoke to our Southern roots. What better representation than spoonbread?”
Spoonbread is an old-fashioned Southern dish that resembles cornbread but bakes up with a moist, almost custard-like texture from all the eggs in the batter. The spoonbread will rise slightly as it bakes and then, like a souffle, lose a little volume as it comes out of the oven.
The restaurant bakes its spoonbread in individual 7-inch cast-iron skillets and then tops each skillet with the combination of ingredients our reader lists and garnishes it with sliced green onions. At home, you may want to serve it simply with butter and honey.
The caramelized onions used in South City Kitchen’s spoonbread are something the restaurant makes in batches and uses in their pan-fried chicken livers as well as in the spoonbread. To make your own, put a small amount of your choice of fat such as butter or a vegetable oil in a medium skillet and add white or yellow onions cut into 1/4-inch slices. Turn the heat to medium-high. After 2 minutes, stir the onions and decrease the heat to medium-low. Continue cooking the onions, stirring often, until they have softened and browned to the color you prefer. This can take 30 minutes or more. Allow the onions to cool and store covered in the refrigerator until needed. They’ll keep for two weeks. A quarter-pound of onions will yield about 4 tablespoons caramelized onions.
If using Morton’s kosher salt, cut the quantity in half.
FROM THE MENU OF ...
South City Kitchen, 1144 Crescent Ave., Atlanta. 404-873-7358, southcitykitchen.com.
SOUTH CITY KITCHEN’S SPOONBREAD
For the highest rise and the crispiest crust, bake the spoonbread in a 9-inch cast-iron skillet. If you do not have one, substitute a 9-inch heatproof skillet or square or round baking dish.
1 cup coarse-ground yellow cornmeal
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
1 cup boiling water
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup full-fat sour cream
4 tablespoons caramelized onions
4 tablespoons diced poblano peppers, seeds removed
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-inch cast-iron skillet with nonstick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, whisk together cornmeal, baking powder and salt.
Measure boiling water into a 2-cup measuring cup and stir in butter. When butter has melted, about 1 minute, whisk water/butter mixture into cornmeal mixture, making sure there are no lumps. Let rest 5 minutes.
In another bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and sour cream. After cornmeal mixture has rested, whisk egg mixture into cornmeal mixture.
Sprinkle onions and peppers in prepared skillet. Pour batter over the vegetables and put into oven. Bake 5 minutes, then rotate skillet 180 degrees and bake 15 minutes more or until spoonbread has set in the middle. Remove from oven, cool slightly and cut into four wedges for serving. Serves 4.
Per serving: 408 calories (percent of calories from fat, 51), 13 grams protein, 37 grams carbohydrates, 5 grams total sugars, 2 grams fiber, 23 grams total fat (11 grams saturated), 253 milligrams cholesterol, 257 milligrams sodium.