This morning I made some yummy skillet cornbread with bacon and cheese. Social distancing demands comfort food. Here’s how I did it….

Cook some bacon in a 9 inch cast iron pan until it’s crispy. Put the bacon aside on a paper towel. (OK you can make it without bacon in a pinch, but…..) Take the pan off the heat. Turn the oven on to 400F.

In a bowl mix together….
1 1/4 cups corn meal
3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt (if you use a lot of bacon in the recipe, but back on the salt)

Grate some cheese – cheddar is fine or whatever you like.

Take a minute to crumble the bacon and toss it in with the dry ingredients. Add some of your grated cheese to the dry ingredients but save about a third of it.

Put the pan with the bacon drippings in the oven.

In another bowl….
Beat 2 eggs with a fork for a few seconds
Add a cup + 1/4 milk (use whole milk if you have it but if not, use what you have…..buttermilk is fine too)
I used 1% milk because that’s all I had, and added a teaspoon of vegetable oil. It was fine.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula until it’s all mixed together. Don’t overmix.

Take the hot pan out of the oven. Pour in your mix, getting it all off the bowl with a spatula. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

Put the pan in the oven for 15 minutes, and check it at that time. It should be golden brown. Poke it through the centre with a skewer. If it comes out clean, it’s ready.

The cornbread should release from the pan easily. Let it cool on a rack until you can’t resist anymore, then sample at will.

The Agency Podcast is collecting recipes for your fave isolation comfort foods for an upcoming episode. Please send yours to theagency.podcast@gmail.com. You’re welcome to send us a voice clip as well and we’ll insert it into the episode.