Etta’s Cornbread Pudding

For cornbread:
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup grated jack cheese
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
3 Tablespoons honey
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted plus a little more for buttering pan                                

For the pudding:
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter plus a little more for buttering pan                                           
1 cup thinly sliced onion
3/4 cup grated dry jack cheese (or substitute regular jack or sharp cheddar)      
2 teaspoons chopped flat leaf parsley
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
2 1/4 cups heavy cream
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper


To make the cornbread, preheat the oven to 425°F.  Butter an 8x8-inch baking dish.  Combine the flour, cornmeal, cheese, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.  In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and honey.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring until just combined.  Melt 4 Tablespoons of the butter and stir into the mixture.  Pour into the prepared pan and bake about 15 to 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cut into one inch cubes.  You should have about 8 cups of cornbread cubes, but you only need one third of the cornbread cubes (about 2⅔ cups) for this recipe. (Note: freeze the extra cornbread for future batches of pudding.)

To make the cornbread pudding, lower the oven temperature to 350º F.  Put the 2 ⅔ cups of cornbread cubes in a buttered 8x8-inch baking dish. Set aside.  Heat 1 Tablespoon butter in a sauté pan on low heat and very slowly sauté the onions until soft and golden brown, at least 20 minutes.   Remove from the heat.   Scatter the onions, cheese, and herbs over the cornbread cubes.  Whisk together the cream and eggs with the salt and pepper and pour over the pan of cornbread cubes.  Let sit 10 minutes so the cornbread cubes absorb some of the custard.  Bake about 40 minutes or until set and golden.  Serve warm.

Yields 6 servings.

Recipe compliments of Tom Douglas from: Tom Douglas' Seattle Kitchen (HarperCollins, 2001)