In the head-note of the recipe for her Honey-Glazed Corn Bread, Sherry Yard talks about how she made this Southern-style classic for the San Antonio Spurs. The corn bread accompanied a meal made by Spago’s executive chef, Lee Hefter, which included smothered pork chops, fried chicken with collard greens, macaroni and cheese, ribs, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, green beans, and brisket. My stomach yearns and hurts for this meal so bad!

Craving some Southern soul food, last night I took the easy way out and made a dang-good dinner of Kraft Mac-n’-Cheese from the box (I added my own gourmet touch with a grind of fresh black pepper…oo ahh) and sauteed balsamic kale.

Ooo, and this past weekend I ate a fried chicken (and smoked bacon) sandwich between two buttery biscuits from the King’s Crumb vendor at Williamsburg’s Smorgasburg market.

Apparently I’m making it a week of Southern comforts. I’ve had my fried chicken n’ biscuit, my mac n’ greens, and today it was time for some soaked-in-honey butter corn bread. This is a very wet and sweet corn bread recipe. Super soft. It is so deliciously decadent that you don’t even need to add extra butter and honey on the side. You could eat it with chili or alongside some mac n’ greens. Or you could just go corn-crazy and eat your bread cake with some buttermilk sweet corn ice cream. Ooooweeeee!

Did I mention that tonight I am going out to eat at The Meatball Shop? Meatballs are more Italian comfort food than Southern soul, but hey, once you pop you just can’t stop!

…Oh, and I put coffee ice cream into my French-press cup o’ joe today.

I’m a bad girl.

Honey Glazed Spago Cornbread

From Sherry Yard’s Desserts by the Yard

makes one 9-x-13-inch pan

1 cup yellow cornmeal (I only had white for some reason, so I just used white cornmeal…either will do)

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup cake flour (I just used all-purpose)

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

4 large eggs, at room temperature

3 ounces (3/4 stick) unsalted butter

1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used Canola…same dif.)

1 cup milk

1/2 cup buttermilk

GLAZE:

3 ounces (3/4 stick) unsalted butter

1/4 cup honey (I used some local New York’s Catskill Provisions Honey)

1/3 cup water

1. Place a rack in the midle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9-x-13-inch baking pan with aluminum foil and spray the foil with pan spray.

2. Sift together the cornmeal, flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs. Melt the butter and immediately whisk into the eggs in a slow stream. Whisk in the oil, milk, and buttermilk. Whisk in the dry ingredients just until combined.

4. Scrape the batter into the pan and bake for 30 minutes. Rotate the pan from front to back and continue to bake for 10 minutes, or until a tester insterted in the center comes out clean.

5. MAKE THE GLAZE: While the corn bread is baking, melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the honey and water and whisk until blended.

6. When the corn bread is done, remove from the oven and poke holes all over the bread, about 1/2 inch apart, with a toothpick. Brush with the glaze and allow to cool.

Sauteed Balsamic Kale

olive oil

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1-2 heads of kale, ripped off the stem

splash of water

dash of  balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper, to taste

1. Heat some oil in a pan. Add the garlic and saute for about 2 minutes, until fragrant and barely browned.

2. Add the kale and a small splash of water. Cook for about 4-5 minutes, until soft.

3. Turn the heat to low, add a dash of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and cook about 1 minute more.