Creamed Corn Pudding, Day 64, 7/31/11

If you're looking for the easiest and most delicious side dish you could ever possibly make, here you go:

Baked Bree and I are facebook friends, and when she posted the recipe Val's Corn Pudding, the other day, I had just returned home from the grocery store with a few ears of corn.  I read through the recipe and was shocked that I already had all of the ingredients.  (There are only a few.)   I decided I was definitely going to make this in the next couple of days.

I modified this recipe ever so slightly and was pretty much dumbfounded by how creamy and flavorful this turned out to be.  I like corn a lot and figured I would like this, but I had no idea that corn could be THIS wonderful.  I followed her recipe pretty closely except I added 2 diced scallions and a little bit of chili powder.  Take my word for it, you're gonna want to try this one at home! 

Bree's recipe says to start by melting 3 Tablespoons of butter in a pan, but I cut it back to 2.  To that, I added about 3 cups of corn and two diced scallions to the melted butter.  In this instance, I actually used a combination of fresh and frozen corn.  I had 3 ears of corn in the fridge that I wanted to use, but after I boiled it briefly and cut the kernels off the cob, I decided I had less than 2 cups of corn.  So I thawed some frozen corn by running it under cold water, then patted it dry and added it to the fresh for a total of about 3 cups.  I think the results would probably be most delicious if fresh corn was used, but if you buy a good quality frozen corn, it'll turn out just fine.

Season your corn and scallions with a little salt and pepper and some cayenne pepper- maybe 1/2 teaspoon.  If you don't like spicy food, you can completely omit the cayenne and it will still be super tasty.  Then add just enough half and half to cover the corn.  Bree mentioned that using cream instead of half and half makes it even better.  But my opinion was that is was SO good having used half and half, that I'm not going to bother wasting the extra calories and fat on cream.  If you want to give the cream a try, go ahead.

Now you'll let the half and half reduce for about 25 minutes over medium low heat.  Stir occasionally.  Bree says that when the half and half coats the back of a spoon, it has reduced sufficiently.  Honestly, I didn't even try that, but right about 25 minutes later the cream was suddenly a lot thicker and I called it good.

Remove it from the heat and stir in 1/2 cup of finely grated parmesan cheese.

Pour the mixture into a casserole pan and top it with a little bit more parmesan.  At this point I also sprinkled a little bit of chili powder on top because I knew that I was serving it with Mexican Stuffed Peppers and I wanted to tie the flavors together a little bit.  You don't need to add the chili powder if that doesn't go with whatever you're serving.  Bree topped hers with some paprika, Paula Deen style.

Add it to a preheated 350 degree oven and cook for 25 minutes.  When you pull it out of the oven it will be all bubbly and delicous looking, but let it sit for a few minutes before jumping it so that it can set up a little more.  After you've eaten this once, and know exactly how fantastic it is, that wait time will be very difficult for you.  Sorry about that.

Don't let "pudding" in the name confuse you.  This isn't a dessert, it's a side that can be served with absolutely anything.  It's like a thick creamed corn, so I'm calling it Creamed Corn Pudding.  I know that is kind of boring name, but this isn't a boring dish.  You'll be shocked how delicious this combination of a few simple ingredients turns out.

You won't have to put much thought into this since it can easily be served with whatever your favorite meal is.  Go ahead and give it a try.  I'm pretty sure you won't make it just once.  And you'll have to let me know if you love it as much as I do.