better than cornbread

This may have been my favorite dish from Connor’s birthday dinner. I found the recipe on Saveur.com. It’s originally from Brigtsen’s Restaurant in New Orléans.

Baked in individual ramekins, this cornbread with jalapeño and shrimp is so much more than cornbread.

To make them hot and fresh: Just before serving. I cooked the shrimp mixture and set it aside, whisked together the flour/corn meal mixture, and set it aside. Then, combined the wet ingredients, covered and refrigerated that, all done in the late morning. Thirty minutes before we were to sit down at the table, I preheated the oven and put it all together. They were ready to serve at exactly the right time with very little last-minute effort.

And, of course, I served Harmony Boards for his dinner too. I’m creating and serving them every chance I get. It helps to practice before Kim and I make our new business venture official.

These birthday boards were fruit and cheese, with only a few slices of salami thrown in for good measure.

Brigtsen’s Jalapeño Shrimp Cornbread

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing and serving
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 jalapeño pepper, stemmed, seeded, and minced
• 12 ounces raw medium shrimp finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon Creole seasoning
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/3 cup white corn meal
• 1/3 cup yellow corn meal
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg

Heat oven to 475 degrees. Grease six 8-ounce ramekins with butter; set aside.

Melt 6 tablespoons butter in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat.

Add garlic, green onion, and jalapeño; cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 3 minutes.

Add shrimp and Creole seasoning; cook until shrimp are just pink, 2 minutes, and remove from heat.

Whisk flour, corn meals, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and pepper in a bowl.

Whisk together the buttermilk and egg in another bowl and then add to the dry ingredients, stirring until just mixed.

Fold in the shrimp mixture and divide the batter between greased ramekins.

Place ramekins on a baking sheet and bake until tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes.

Serve with additional butter.

Serves 6