Jalapeno, Scallion and Avocado Corn Bread

24 servings
Total Cost: NY $8.66
Cost per serving: NY $0.24


So last week’s Great Chocolate Avocado Brownie Experiment got us thinking: what if you used avocado in place of some of the oil or butter in something with flavors that would make for a less counter-intuitive pairing with avocado*? Like, say, a southwestern jalapeno corn bread? If you’ll excuse me for saying so, Eureka! This corn bread is exceptionally moist, zesty with the peppers and scallions, lightly sweet from the honey and thick with sour cream. The avocado is not particularly noticeable on its own, but the taste definitely adds some depth of flavor, in a “what is that mystery ingredient I can’t quite place?” kind of way. Goes great with turkey chili!


Ingredients

• 2 cups cornmeal (NY $0.38)
• 1 cup whole wheat flour (NY $0.23)
• 1 cup all purpose flour (NY $0.20)
• 1 tablespoon salt (staple)
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder (staple)
• 4 eggs (NY $0.66)
• 1 cup milk (NY $0.27)
• 1 cup reduced-fat sour cream (NY $1.09)
• 1/3 cup honey (NY $1.13)
• 4 tbsps butter (NY $0.38)
• 1 avocado (NY $1.50)
• 1 10 oz package frozen corn, thawed (NY $1.19)
• 1 bunch scallions (NY $0.99)
• 2 jalapeno peppers (NY $0.64)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.** Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch pan with butter. Dice the jalapeno peppers, using your knife to scrape out the seeds. Slice the thinly scallions, retaining both the dark green and white parts. (No need to discard anything but the tiny roots!)


In a large bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flours, salt and baking powder. In a food processor, combine eggs, milk, sour cream, honey, butter, and avocado. Pulse until thoroughly blended, scraping down the sides with a spatula to make sure that all hunks of avocado are broked down and incorporated into the mixture. Pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients, and whisk until smooth and thoroughly blended. Fold in the corn, scallions and peppers with a spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until gold brown, about 35 minutes. Let cool before slicing into squares.


* Although counter to my own intuition, that is, we’ve been informed that chocolate and avocado is actually a common and delicious Indonesian pairing. Fascinating! Thanks, Chef Aimee!

** Or, if you’re using the crappy oven in our rental, preheat for one hour at 450 degrees, open oven long enough to put corn bread and watch temperature on thermometer drop back down to 375, and set temperature to 400 degrees. Check oven thermometer every 10 minutes, raising temperature back up to 425 degrees if needed. Optional: copious swearing and calls to landlord.


Nutritional Info
Amount Per Serving

Calories 152.6	Vitamin A 5.1 %	Iron 6.3 %
Total Fat 5.7 g	Vitamin B-12 1.9 %	Magnesium 7.0 %
Cholesterol 44.5 mg	Vitamin B-6 5.0 %	Manganese 16.1 %
Sodium 335.6 mg	Vitamin C 4.8 %	Niacin 6.6 %
Potassium 150.0 mg	Vitamin D 1.1 %	Phosphorus 8.5 %
Total Carbohydrate 22.8 g	Vitamin E 2.1 %	Riboflavin 8.2 %
Fiber 2.3 g	Calcium 2.2 %	Selenium 14.1 %
Sugars 4.1 g	Copper 3.7 %
Protein 3.9 g	Folate 8.4 %

Recipe and Nutritional Information after the jump

Resolution-Friendly Banana Bread

12 servings
Total cost: NY $ 2.20/ 3.93
Cost per serving: NY $0.18/0.32


Banana bread is one of those great traditional budget recipes, as its an excellent way to use up bananas that are too far gone to just eat by themselves. This iteration goes easy on the oil, using buttermilk in its place, and calls for part whole wheat pastry flour. (Don’t be tempted to use regular whole wheat flour instead of pastry, as its too heavy for this light loaf, and you’d end up sifting out all the grains anyway.) This bread has all the delicious fragrance and warmth of the original, yet with a lot less oil and fat, so it doesn’t involve blowing your New Year’s resolutions. (We’ve got at least another week or two before we start giving up on those, right?)


Ingredients

• 2 large eggs (NY $0.31)
• ¾ cup sugar (NY $0.42)
• 4 very ripe to overripe bananas (NY $0.89)
• 1/3 cup buttermilk (NY $0.16/ NY $1.89 for a quart)
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil (staple)
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract (staple)
• 1 cup all purpose flour (NY $0.21)
• ¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour (NY $0.21)
• 1 tsp cinnamon (staple)
• 1/8 tsp all spice (staple)
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg (staple)
• ½ tsp salt (staple)
• 2 tsp baking powder (staple)
• ½ tsp baking soda (staple)

Directions

Preheat over to 325. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and dust with flour. Mash the bananas in a small bowl with a fork. Beat eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until thick, about 4 minutes. Add bananas, buttermilk, oil and vanilla extract and mix again until well combined, about 1 minute. Sift in remaining dry ingredients, and beat until blended, about 2 more minutes. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake about 1 hour, or until golden brown on top and fork inserted in center comes out clean. Turn out onto rack and let cool. Slice and enjoy!


Adapted from Bon Appetit, August 1997

Nutritional Info
Amount Per Serving

Calories 179.3	Protein 3.9 g	Magnesium 6.4 %
Total Fat 2.6 g	Vitamin A 1.9 %	Manganese 22.7 %
Saturated Fat 0.6 g	Vitamin B-12 1.6 %	Niacin 6.6 %
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.4 g	Vitamin B-6 13.6 %	Pantothenic Acid 3.4 %
Monounsaturated Fat 1.3 g	Vitamin C 6.1 %	Phosphorus 7.9 %
Cholesterol 41.1 mg	Vitamin D 1.3 %	Riboflavin 9.4 %
Sodium 243.9 mg	Vitamin E 2.2 %	Selenium 17.6 %
Potassium 212.2 mg	Calcium 5.9 %	Thiamin 9.3 %
Total Carbohydrate 36.1 g	Copper 4.4 %	Zinc 3.1 %
Dietary Fiber 2.2 g	Folate 8.6 %
Sugars 17.6 g	Iron 6.7 %

Recipe and Nutritional Information after the jump