The close of autumn with fires lit, kindling neatly stacked, brings a yearning for a smoky mellow yellow la pizza di mais or corn bread that has been cooked in the embers of a fire.  It’s the bread which if it could sing would have to be Macy Gray.  I think sitting in front of the sweetest smelling fire as it slowly cooks this with a large glass of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is a perfect way to get ready for a night when the temperatures dip below 0.

If you don’t have a fire and would like an alternative to the  Abruzzese la pizza di mais (cornbread)  that is equally good served with one of my winter green favourites fuje or fijou (sauted savoy cabbage in white wine with garlic and peperoncini) these are great and even better when mopping up a sweet rosemary lentil & roasted chestnut stew.

Zucchini Polenta Cakes

Sam Dunham

If cooking la pizza di mais without a fireplace and it's modern day stove variant doesn't have the same resonance you could try Zucchini Polenta Cakes

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Course Snack

Cuisine Italian

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 150 g Maize Flour (corn-meal)
• 35 g Plain Flour
• 3 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 Egg
• Good glug of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Boiling water
• Salt to taste
• 1 courgette cut in half and thinly sliced
• Fresh Rosemary snipped

Instructions

 

• Add the thinly sliced courgette, rosemary, salt & pepper and a sprinkle of olive oil and roast in an oven at 200C till squidgy.  Take out and turn oven up to 220C.
• In the meantime mix your dry ingredients together with ground salt and add your generous glug of olive oil and egg and beat into the mixture.
• Add the water, mix together and let stand, you should have a soft dropping dough.
• Fold in the courgettes and add to well greased muffin tins – the mixture should make 6.
• Give the top of the cakes a brush with olive oil for extra flavour.
• Allow to cook for no more than 15 minutes, start checking at 12 minutes if you have a fan assisted oven.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Author: Sam Dunham

Sam is a very lucky midlife 'mamma' to A who is 13 and juggles working as a freelance SEO copywriter & teaches IGCSEs at Istituo Cristo Re in Rome. She is the founder of the Life In Abruzzo Cultural Association, co-founder of Let's Blog Abruzzo and 'English in the Woods' initiative.