Bob and Nancy Green live on the land Bob’s pioneer father settled in 1881 and Bob has been a rancher for most of his life. Now in her eighties, Nancy continues to indulge her lifelong passion for entertaining. She favors groups up to sixteen, because she can seat them all “gracefully” at her table without having to round up chairs from other parts of the house. Nancy keeps her guests happy with a good supply of cornbread, baked in a Texas-shaped skillet.

　　

Ingredients

serves 8 to 10

　　6 large eggs

　　1/2 cup honey

　　3 cups whole milk

　　3/4 cup canola oil

　　3 cups medium-grind cornmeal

　　1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

　　1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder

　　1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

　　2 tablespoons unsalted butter

　　3 cups chopped onions

　　1/2 cup chopped jalapeño chiles (about 3 stemmed and seeded chiles)

　　3 cups fresh corn kernels (about 4 ears)

　　1 1/2 cups diced red bell peppers

　　1 (5-ounce) package baby arugula

　　3 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (about 12 ounces)

　　

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 14-inch cast-iron skillet. Heat it in the oven while making the cornbread batter. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, honey, milk, and oil. In a bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt until combined. Stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture until combined.

　　

Step 2

In a large skillet set on medium heat, melt the butter and sauté the onion, jalapeño, corn, and red pepper, about 3 minutes. Stir in the arugula, and cook for 1 minute more, until the greens are wilted. Fold the sautéed vegetables and cheese into the cornbread mixture.

　　

Step 3

Use a kitchen mitt to remove the heated skillet from the oven. Spoon the batter into the prepared skillet and return it to the oven. Bake until the cornbread is golden around the edges and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Serve straight from the skillet hot or at room temperature.

　　

variation

Step 4

If you are making cornbread croutons for chopped salad (page 217), skip the vegetables and cheese, and bake in a greased 13 by 18-inch pan until golden around the edges and a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool and cut into croutons.

　　

do it early

Step 5

You can bake the cornbread in the skillet early in the day and reheat in a 300°F oven before serving. Make croutons a day ahead.

　　Pastry Queen Parties by Rebecca Rather and Alison Oresman. Copyright © 2009 Rebecca Rather and Alison Oresman. Published by Ten Speed Press. All Rights Reserved.A pastry chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author, native Texan Rebecca Rather has been proprietor of the Rather Sweet Bakery and Café since 1999. Open for breakfast and lunch daily, Rather Sweet has a fiercely loyal cadre of regulars who populate the café’s sunlit tables each day. In 2007, Rebecca opened her eponymous restaurant, serving dinner nightly, just a few blocks from the café.  Rebecca is the author of THE PASTRY QUEEN, and has been featured in Texas Monthly, Gourmet, Ladies Home Journal, Food & Wine, Southern Living, Chocolatier, Saveur, and O, The Oprah Magazine. When she isn’t in the bakery or on horseback, Rebecca enjoys the sweet life in Fredericksburg, where she tends to her beloved backyard garden and menagerie, and eagerly awaits visits from her college-age daughter, Frances.Alison Oresman has worked as a journalist for more than twenty years. She has written and edited for newspapers in Wyoming, Florida, and Washington State. As an entertainment editor for the Miami Herald, she oversaw the paper’s restaurant coverage and wrote a weekly column as a restaurant critic. After settling in Washington State, she also covered restaurants in the greater Seattle area as a critic with a weekly column. A dedicated home baker, Alison is often in the kitchen when she isn't writing. Alison lives in Bellevue, Washington, with her husband, Warren, and their children, Danny and Callie.