Seminole pumpkin & onion upside-down cornbread

The cornbread as it came from the oven. 
It needs to "rest" for 15 minutes like this.

Cooking to the harvest

Years ago, I'd seen a recipe for upside-down cornbread, so I decided to modify it to include two cups of grated Seminole pumpkin that I needed to use. That old recipe called for baking the cornbread in a cast iron skillet and that would have made it the right shape to flip onto a plate. But my 9" X 12" glass baking dish worked fine and we flipped it onto a cutting board.

I used my standard buttermilk cornbread recipe as a base.  

Ingredients:

1 large sweet onion sliced into rings
2 cups grated Seminole pumpkin
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded Colby Jack cheese
1/4 cup olive oil
4 pats of butter
1 1/4 cup flour
1 1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp backing soda
3/4 cup non-fat plain yogurt mixed with 1/4 cup water (or 1 cup buttermilk)
1 cup frozen corn kernels
3 eggs
2 tbsp. chopped fresh oregano
Seasoned salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Precook onion slices in covered dish for 4 minutes in the microwave.

Pre-heat the oven to 475 degrees.

Coat the bottom of the baking dish with 2 tbsp. of olive oil and lay the onion slices so their ring shapes are artfully arranged.

Combine all the dry ingredients until thoroughly mixed. Stir all the wet ingredients, except for the butter, until relatively smooth. Combine the two mixtures until no dry material is left. And pour over the onions.

Add small chunks of butter evenly across the top of the batter.

Put in the hot oven for 10 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Continue cooking for 50 minutes or until top is firm and browned. 

Remove from oven and let it rest for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edge to loosen the cornbread and then flip the pan to reveal the onion rings. Serve warm. Eat it with a fork. I cut it into six large squares.

After flipping, the onion rings decorate the top.

Serve with a small salad and eaten with a fork.

This will be the main course for three meals for the two of us. The  first night, I served it a small salad. 

I had some frozen vegetable soup, so I thawed that and the next two nights will be a small bowl of soup with this delicious cornbread.

It reminds me a bit of the spoonbread my mother used to serve.

For more information on this crop read, The end of the Seminole pumpkin season

I hope you are finding interesting ways to cook to your harvests.

Green Gardening Matters,
Ginny Stibolt