Zucchini Cornbread

I am not a fan of the bright green vegetable resembling a cucumber, known as the zucchini. Unless it is cooked on a hibachi grill at our local Japaneese steakhouse, you won't find me enjoying it. However, I found this delicious recipe in Bon Appetit Magazine a few months ago and needed to try it. Despite my relationship with zucchini, I do love good cornbread and oddly enough have never made it from scratch. Oh and my zucchini came from a friend's garden, so maybe that's why I ended up enjoying this bread so much!

Here is what you'll need:

- 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter plus more for pan
  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 large zucchini (about 10 ounces)
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 cup medium-grind cornmeal
-Position a rack in the middle of oven and preheat to 350°. Butter a 9 x 5 x 3" loaf pan.

-Melt 1/2 cup butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Continue cooking until butter solids at bottom of pan turn golden brown, about 5 minutes. Scrape butter into a medium bowl. Set aside and let cool.
-Whisk in eggs and buttermilk.
-Trim zucchini ends. Thinly slice five 1/8" rounds from 1 end of zucchini and reserve for garnish. Coarsely grate remaining zucchini. Add to bowl with butter mixture and stir until well blended.
-Sift both flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda into a large bowl. Whisk in cornmeal. Add zucchini mixture; fold just to blend (mixture will be very thick). Transfer batter to prepared pan and smooth top. Place reserved zucchini slices atop batter down center in a single layer.
-Bake bread until golden and a tester inserted into center comes out clean, 55-65 minutes. Let cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan; let cool completely on a wire rack.

This bread was delicious right out of the oven, but rewarming it proved to be difficult. The best way to reheat it, is wrap it in tin foil and put it back in the oven for about 6 minutes at 350. Then it should taste perfectly fresh again! I hope you enjoy this delicious bread as much as we did!