Building a library

I've already mentioned the Friends of the Library Book Sale as a good way to build your cookbook collection. The fall sale starts today but I went to the members only pre-sale last night. (Last year, I figured out that being a member is both money to a good cause and a good way to get to the book sale when there are no book sellers and no scanners allowed there.) Here are most of the things I got last night, even though I only spent $30:

The bottom three books—The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook, The Art of Simple Food, and Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking—were only $15. You could cook happily out of just those three books for years and not get bored. I've been collecting copies of all three of them to parcel out to you guys as you leave home and start cooking for yourselves.

Cornbread

Adapted from The Art of Simple Food (2007) by Alice Waters

Time: 30 minutes

This recipe is for a pretty dense cornbread, with a 5:2 ratio of cornmeal to flour. You can alter the ratio to your taste, making it denser (all the way up to 100% cornmeal) or lighter (down to 90 grams cornmeal/120 grams flour) or anywhere in between. If you don't have buttermilk or kefir, you can substitute 150 grams of plain whole or low-fat yogurt + 150 grams water or milk. You can double the recipe and bake it in a 13-by-9-by-2 inch rectangular pan for about 25 minutes.

Dry ingredients
150 grams (1¼ cups) stone-ground cornmeal (see note)
60 grams (½ cup) all-purpose flour, spelt flour, brown rice flour, or a gluten-free flour blend

1 tablespoon (12 grams) sugar, optional 

2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon fine sea salt

Wet ingredients

1 large egg (~57 grams in the shell) 

300 grams (1¼ cups) buttermilk or plain kefir (see note)
4 tablespoons (½ stick; 57 grams) butter, melted

    1. Place a rack in the center of the oven; heat to 425 degrees. I make this in an 8-inch cast-iron skillet. You can also make it an 8-inch square baking dish or a standard muffin tin. If you use a skillet, put it in the oven with 1 tablespoon butter, oil, or bacon drippings in it while the oven is preheating. If you use a baking dish or a muffin tin, coat it with nonstick cooking spray.
    2. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Crack the egg into a small bowl or 2-cup measuring cup and whisk to break it up a bit. Whisk in the buttermilk.
    3. Pour the buttermilk-egg mixture over the dry ingredients, and whisk or stir until smooth. Stir in the melted butter.
    4. If you're using a cast-iron skillet, take it out of the oven carefully, swirl the fat around the pan, and then scrape in the batter with a silicone spatula. If you're using a baking dish, scrape the batter into it with a spatula. If you're using a muffin tin, scoop the batter into the wells using a #16 scoop (¼ cup).
    5. Bake until the cornbread is golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 20 minutes, or 12 to 15 minutes for corn muffins.