My Kitchen My World this week takes us to the Bahamas! Calls to mind tropical breezes and sandy beaches to me. Unfortunately, I only remembered about this particular event yesterday, so had to work around my extremely limited foods on hand (we shop on Mondays, so by Saturday/Sunday, we're running low or out of most of the "fun stuff"). Luckily, as I searched Bahamian recipes, Johnny Cake kept popping up, with basic ingredients that I always have on hand. Actually,
this particular recipe was my second choice. I had picked
one that included cornmeal, but as I started measuring ingredients I realized that I was out of cornmeal! So that's going on the list for tomorrow, and I had to hurry and find a recipe that didn't include it. I found it quite that Bahamian Johnny Cake can be made with or without cornmeal.
Johnny Cake2 cups flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. oil
1 cup milk
Mix dry ingredients; add liquids. Mix together and knead for a few minutes. Put into a greased 8x8-inch square pan and place in a 374 degree preheated oven. Bake approximately 20 minutes. Most recipes suggest serving hot with butter.
Johnny Cake is traditionally served as an accompaniment, great for dipping in a nice soup, stew, or
souse. I don't tend to be traditional with what gets served when, so because we had a very large lunch, I served this on its own as a simple dinner, topped with butter and jam. It was soft and fluffy, actually pretty similar to biscuits. It was simple enough and good enough that I think it will probably make its way into our regular meal rotations. Yummy!
Yumm, a nice quick bread for mealtime or a nice snack as you said with jam. Looks good!
ReplyDeleteHmmmmm. I've never tried this before. But is sounds really good and I have all the ingredients, so this might be lunch :-D Thanks for the great recipe.
ReplyDeleteMy mom's family is from Key West and before that the Bahamas. Our family recipe is even easier and makes essentially a biscuit without the fat in it (so it is portable, since Johnny Cakes were originally called journey cakes). Just put lots of butter on it to enjoy freshly cooked.
ReplyDeleteWe mix together 2 cups flour, 1 Tablespoon baking powder and 1 teaspoon salt. Or, you can just use self-rising floor if you keep that on-hand. Add enough water to make a thick batter. In the meantime, put a skillet (cast iron or otherwise) on the stovetop and heat it on HIGH. when hot, turn it down to the lowest possible and immediately pour all the batter in the skillet. The high heat makes a crust that will stop it from sticking. Let cook on that low heat for 15 minutes. Flip is over (can be hard if your cake is large). Then let cook on the other side for another 15 minutes. Sever with lots of butter (remember there is none in the cake). My kids and husband like to also put either maple syrup or jelly on theirs.