Cornbread with avocado and black bean salsa
- Published: 24 Jan 20
- Updated: 18 Mar 24
Caravan’s signature cornbread has been on their menu since the restaurant’s inception and now you can make it yourself at home, with chef-director Miles Kirby’s coveted recipe.
Here, it’s served toasted and topped with mashed avocado, a crispy fried egg, a warm spiced black bean salsa and sour pickled red onion. It really is delicious.
And because you can never have too much cornbread, make sure to give our jalapeño cornbread recipe a go, served with charred spring onion soured cream.
- Serves 6
- Hands-on time 40 min, oven time 30-35 min, plus resting, pickling and cooling
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra if needed
- 6 medium free-range eggs
- Fresh coriander leaves and lime wedges to serve
For the cornbread
- 60g butter, melted
- 3 medium free-range eggs
- 400ml whole milk
- 170g instant polenta
- 80g strong white bread flour
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 150g sweetcorn (fresh when in season, tinned when out of season)
- 3 spring onions, thinly sliced
For the sour onion
- 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
- 50ml red wine vinegar
For the mashed avocado
- 4 small ripe avocados
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp sea salt flakes
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
For the black bean salsa
- 250g tinned black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 tsp chipotle paste
- Small bunch fresh coriander, chopped
- Juice ½ lime
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 spring onions, sliced
You’ll also need…
- 2lb loaf tin, greased and lined with non-stick baking paper
Method
- Heat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/gas 7. For the cornbread, pour the melted butter into a large mixing bowl, crack in the 3 eggs, whisk to combine, then pour in the milk and whisk well.
- Sift the polenta, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into another bowl and mix. Pour the egg mixture on top and mix until just combined (make sure there are no dry bits remaining but be careful not to overmix the batter). Stir in the sweetcorn and spring onions. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and let it stand for 10 minutes at room temperature.
- Meanwhile, mix the red onion and red wine vinegar in a non-metallic bowl and leave to stand, covered, for an hour at room temperature, stirring occasionally. After 1 hour, drain (discard the vinegar) and set aside in a bowl – see Make Ahead.
- Bake the cornbread for 10 minutes, then turn down the oven temperature to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6 and bake for 20-25 minutes more until a skewer pushed into the centre of the loaf comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes. Turn out of the tin onto a cooling rack to cool completely (see Make Ahead).
- Scoop the avocado flesh into a bowl. Mash roughly with a fork, so some avocado is well mashed but some larger chunks remain. Stir in the olive oil, salt and lemon juice, then season with black pepper. Cover and set aside.
- Once the cornbread has cooled completely, cut 6 thick slices from the loaf (see tip) and heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Fry the slices of cornbread for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden and crisp. Drain on kitchen paper. Keep the pan to hand.
- Meanwhile, combine all the ingredients for the black bean salsa in a small mixing bowl, then taste and season with salt and pepper.
- Reheat the oil in the pan you used to fry the cornbread, ready to fry the eggs (add a little extra olive oil if needed). Crack the eggs into the hot oil and fry until the bases are crisp and the whites are set, or to your liking (depending on the size of the frying pan, you may need to do this in batches).
- Divide the cornbread among6 plates, then top each piece with some avocado, a fried egg, some black bean salsa and sour onion, and a few coriander leaves. Serve straightaway with lime wedges.
- Recipe from June 2018 Issue
Nutrition
- Calories
- 512kcals
- Fat
- 37.7g (9.5g saturated)
- Protein
- 13.1g
- Carbohydrates
- 27g (5.4g sugars)
- Fibre
- 6.3g
- Salt
- 2.2g
delicious. tips
This makes more cornbread than you need so you could double the remaining ingredients to serve up to 12 people, or eat the rest of the loaf another day.
Make the cornbread up to 2 days ahead and keep in an airtight container. After draining the red onion (step 3), cover and chill for up to 24 hours.
Chill a South African sauvignon blanc to go with this one. Its slightly grassy, green pepper style is a great fit.
Buy ingredients online
Rate & review
Rate
Reviews
Subscribe to our magazine
Food stories, skills and tested recipes, straight to your door... Enjoy 5 issues for just £5 with our special introductory offer.
SubscribeUnleash your inner chef
Looking for inspiration? Receive the latest recipes with our newsletter