Ingredients

• ~3/4 cup all purpose flour (120g)
• 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1/2 cup sugar (106g)
• 4 Tbsp salsa (Tostitos brand "medium" spicy)
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup frozen sweet white corn
• 2 tsp minced canned mild green chilis (The Ortega brand has a 4oz can of "diced green chilis" that works well.)
• 1 cup buttermilk (See note below)
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted & cooled (it's also tasty without the melted butter, but it's just less "deluxe")
• around 1/2 cup grated cheddar for the top (about 2 oz)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 13"x9"x2" metal baking pan.
2. Whisk flour, cornmeal, sugar, and baking powder in a large bowl. Stir in corn and chilis.
3. Whisk in buttermilk and eggs in a medium bowl to blend, then whisk in melted butter. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir just until blended (do not overmix).
4. Transfer batter to prepared pan (batter will come only about 3/4" up the sides of the pan). Sprinkle grated cheese evenly on top. With a large spoon, lightly stir the cheese into the very top layer of the batter. You want to still be able to see most of the cheese on top, but have it lightly moistened by the batter. Moistening the cheese with the batter protects it from burning; leaving the cheese on top makes a tasty cheesey topping and also results in a nice presentation when the top layer browns during the broiling step.
5. Bake cornbread in the middle of the oven until lightly browned on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. With pan out of the oven, turn the oven to broil (high) and preheat for a few minutes. Put the pan back in the oven, leave the door ajar, and broil (still at the middle height in the oven) for a couple minutes until the top is medium brown in spots. Watch carefully at this stage and do NOT walk away! The browning step adds a very nice touch but it's easy to burn at this stage.

(*) Note: If you don't have buttermilk on hand, you can substitute it with 1 Tbsp white vinegar plus 1 cup minus 1 Tbsp milk. Milk substitutes such as rice milk are fine. Lemon juice in place of the vinegar works fine too.

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