Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Corn Experiments

We froze several ears of corn on the cob last summer and then realized that our winter eating habits never really make it something we want to eat. That led to corn experiment night...

After looking up a few corn casserole and corn pudding recipes, I decided to start the experiment by cutting the corn off of 12 defrosted ears - a total of about 7 1/2 lbs.
Half of it went into the blender with 1/4 c. rice milk (any milk would do), 1 t salt, 3 eggs, and 2 t cornstarch. That puree got poured onto the remaining corn for what I started to call the "base".

One half of the base got 6 oz. of canned green chilis, another 1/2 t of salt, several grinds of pepper, and 12 oz. of finely diced tempeh. The other half was the dessert experiment so I just added about 2 T of honey.

Before mixing in the honey I took a small ramekin out to see what the base tasted like. The larger ramekin is the honeyed portion. After the savory one was mixed, I topped the pan with shredded cheese.

It turned out very yummy but I felt like it was a little flat. The chilis added a nice heat but we think we need to try it again and add some sauteed onions and season the tempeh somehow. I might have to research some southwest dishes.

The dessert was good but I'd like a smoother mouth feel. Next time I'm going to increase the egg to corn ratio, use cream instead of milk, blender all the corn, and add some nutmeg. Q had the brilliant idea of pouring half into the pan, drizzling a spicy wildflower honey over it, and then adding the rest of the corn mixture. I'm glad I've got another six ears in the freezer since corn season is still a little ways away.

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