Belli amici! Cooks and chefs! Food lovers! 

Here comes springtime! La Primavera! And for your celebratory Easter/spring feast I’m giving you two recipes for the price of one! We had two different cornbread recipes (one is muffins) entered into our contest and I thought, why don’t we have them compete against each other?! Then I thought, why don’t we COMBINE them into one…take the best of both and create something new and wonderful. So, Chefs Deborah Richards and Barry Rosenstein, congratulations! You’re this month’s honorable mention recipe contest winners, as a team! I’ll be sending you each a deluxe gift box filled with Bella Sun Luci products so you can come up with a new recipe to send in for this year’s contest. 

Here’s a tip: Make your dish a main course item. Sides and breads can be fun, new and exciting, but we’re looking for more substantial dishes/recipes. And healthy, with a LOT of sun dried tomatoes. Not just a couple of spoonfuls, but SHOWCASE them for added color, flavor and lycopene…the antioxidant we love! Chef Richie says, “I want YOU to be a winner!”

So what I did, in combining the two recipes, was to add to the batter an 8.5 ounce jar of our Sun Dried Tomatoes Julienne Cut in Olive Oil with Italian Herbs, using the sun dried tomato flavored olive oil from the jar, and adding a touch of Bella Sun Luci Extra Virgin Olive Oil too, for more antioxidants and flavor. 

*I drizzled a little of the reserved oil over the muffins, and garnished them with basil chiffonade and rosemary flowers from the Bella Sun Luci garden!

So, home chefs…here come the Sun Dried Tomato-Basil-Rosemary-Provolone-Whole Corn Kernel Cornbread Muffins!!

Now, everybody, get cooking, please send in your recipes, buon appetito and arrivederci...and until we meet again…Buon Equinozio Primaverale…Happy Spring Equinox!

Love,

Chef Richie

Two Chefs Cornbread

Too many chefs spoil the soup, but two chefs make awesome cornbread!

Makes enough for a pan of muffins OR a loaf!

Ingredients

• 1 cup fine cornmeal
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1½ 8.5 oz jars Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Tomatoes Julienne Cut (With the oil)
• 1 TB baking powder
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp dry oregano
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1½ cup whole milk
• 1 egg-beaten
• 1 cup shredded provolone cheese
• 1 cup corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
• 1 tsp rosemary, finely chopped
• ¼ cup (4 TB) fresh basil, chiffonade (slice thin), set aside
• Butter for greasing the pans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Mix all ingredients except the basil together. Mix with a wood spoon/by hand. Don’t overmix.
3. Grease 1 muffin pan and 1 loaf pan abundantly with the butter. (You can use paper muffin cups if you prefer)
4. Fill the pans with the batter.
5. Bake 25-35 minutes for the muffins and 35-45 minutes (or more) for the loaf, or until a toothpick comes out of the center clean.
6. Let rest 10-20 minutes before turning the muffins and loaf out of their pans.