Corn Pudding

The plan for dinner was a stir fry in the new wok. My husband was off running errands and I asked him to pick up 3 things of things at the grocery, flank steak, a red pepper, and a can of baby corn.  The steak and the red pepper made it home but instead of baby corn they came with an unwanted friend – a can of cream style corn.

I don’t know about you, but in my opinion stir fry and cream style corn do not belong in the same sentence (except now they are) or the same wok.  That can stayed on the counter for about a week because I couldn’t bear for it to go to the canned goods cabinet and gradually sneak to the back. Every time I saw it, memories of the Burton Elementary School cafeteria came back in a not good way. Eventually the can seemed to develop an attitude. When it became unbearable, to look at anymore it had to be dealt with. A decision was made to turn it into little corn puddings, which seemed both plausible and eatable. Finding recipes wasn’t hard but I wanted to do kind of a mash up of ingredients to see what would work. (picky eaters reside here) Some of the recipes had stuff like garlic and celery salt – yuck. One had cheese – too gloopy, and one had canned chilies – wrong flavor profile. Some had crackers on top and well, some were too much trouble. Cream style corn, milk, butter, eggs, sugar, salt – just the basic stuff should work. I threw in a touch of cornstarch because I like the flavor in things and it’s a good thickener.

Cute little casseroles always make food seem more fun so all that’s left is to mix, pour, and bake. The result was just delicious, pure southern comfort (not the bourbon). My husband was in love with this dish from the first bite. The popcorn garnish was extra icing on the cake! Now I must admit something. Cream style corn has been added to next week’s grocery list and I’m pretty sure it won’t be sneaking to the back of the canned goods cabinet. You’ll have a hit with this. Enjoy!

Corn Pudding (Easy to double)

Ingredients

14.5 oz can cream style corn

½ cup frozen corn kernels (Canned would work.)

2 eggs, beaten

2 Tbsp butter, melted

2 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp 1/2 &1/2 or milk

2 Tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp salt

Popcorn garnish optional but adorable

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Coat an 8 x 8 casserole or 4 small ramekins with cooking spray.

Add corn mixture and bake until firm and lightly browned on top, about 30 – 35 minutes.