Creamed Corn

Hi again.

Here's a post that I maybe should have done at the height of summer when corn was at its best here in The States. But, I wasn't in country anyway, so I missed out on the sweet corn anyhow.

What I'm talking about today is creamed corn- the stuff you (or your mother) have a can of in the cupboard to make cornbread, use in a soup, casserole, etc. This, however, is a little bit of a different animal. It still has all the corn goodness and creaminess, but it's so much better, with still a little bite of the freshness of the corn- delicious.

This would make a fantastic side dish, serving probably 8-10 people, beside anything from hamburgers to more traditional southern fare (not my fave, but that is where it comes from!), to just about anything. Perfect for a potluck too- yumm!

Your arsenal: fresh corn, butter, milk/1/2 and 1/2/cream, salt, pepper, and sugar.

Here's all the fresh corn cut off the cob, with the milky stuff that you get from scraping the cob after cutting the kernels off.

Melt your butter, then add the corn.

The corn sautees for just a minute or two before...

You add the milk and cream, salt, pepper, and sugar, and give it a stir.

This is after about 25 minutes of simmering and reduction- there is still some creaminess in there at the bottom, but it isn't wet with it or too much.

Creamed Corn
(notes:
    -feel free to substitute any dairy and ratios for the cream/milk- just don't use all skim or it
     won't thicken very well- I thought this was good balance
    -I didn't chop the corn this time, but I think it'd be a bit more creamy if you did
    -I made only a 1/2 recipe and I think you could scale this any way you like.)
-8 ears fresh corn
-4 tablespoons butter
-3/4 cup milk
-6 tablespoons cream
-2 teaspoons salt
-1 teaspoons fresh ground pepper
-1 teaspoon sugar (when corn isn't at it's height)
Cut the kernels off of the ears of corn, then scrape the ears with the back of the knife. Give the corn a rough chop.
On medium/high heat, melt your butter in a skillet. Add the corn, stir, and wait a few minutes.
Add the milk, cream, salt, pepper, and sugar. Turn the heat down and simmer for 20 minutes or until thickened.
Turn the heat off, leave the pan on the burner, put a lid on, and let steam for 2 minutes or so.
Season with salt and pepper if necessary, and enjoy!

The finished creamed corn- so delish!

Savor it!
love, rue

p.s. I just came up with the most sinful idea whilst getting a snack to watch during the (football, like, with your feet) game. I looked in the fridge to get some creamed corn, and saw the half-package of bacon I have in there, and it came to me- the (a) way to make this better, to elevate it to the next level, would be to cut up some bacon, fry it up, and sprinkle it on top. If you want to get really decadent, I bet you could even use some or all of the bacon fat in place of the butter!! Whew- vegetarians/vegans beware of that idea!