The Pioneer Woman's Fresh Corn Casserole

Last night, we hosted Amy and Allan at our house. This entailed moving a ton of still-boxed-up wedding presents into one of our guests rooms (I am slowly managing to box up all of the old stuff and replace it with the new stuff; it is actually a daunting task, but a lovely one to have), vacuuming, dusting, and cooking. Cam helped with the cooking. I appreciate this as he was working all day and he took time to slice, dice, bash, mix and grill.

Anyways.

On the menu last night was Tequila Lime Chicken (Cam), Fresh Corn Casserole (Me), Pico de Gallo and Guacamole with Tostitos with a hint of lime (Cam, because I can't chop onions or I cry. A lot.), fresh peach cobbler (Me), and mango margaritas (Cam).

This post is about the corn casserole, but the entire meal was fantastic, and I want to give props to my hubby for all his hard work. I will post about the peach cobbler next.


Gratuitous shot of my hubby chopping away. And yes, I realize this has nothing do with the corn casserole.

The Fresh Corn Casserole is sweet with just the right amount of texture from the firm corn kernels and creamy sauce.

(From The Pioneer Woman website with my modifications in parantheses)

Ingredients
8 ears of corn still on the husk (I used 6)
2/3 cup heavy (whipping) cream (even with 6 ears of corn, I still used 2/3 cup - wee!)
3 Tablespoons salted butter (even with 6 ears of corn, I still used 3 tablespoons of butter - wee, again!)
1/2 teaspoon salt to taste (I threw in a large pinch - the butter is salted so be careful)
Fresh ground pepper, to taste (I used LOTS)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350º F. Husk the corn and then slice the corn from the cob. Use a large, deep bowl as corn bits and corn milk will fly everywhere! I used the back of a dinner knife to press and scrape the cob to remove all the bits of kernel and creamy milk inside - use A LOT of pressure and I found that it is best to run it up and down the cob to get all of the meaty and milky goodness out.


This is what the corn should look like after you cut and scrap it off the cob. See all that delicious creamy, milky goodness mixed in with the firm kernels.

Add the heavy whipping cream, salt to taste, a generous amount of ground pepper and butter. Mix well and pour the mixture into an ungreased 8" x 8" baking dish.

Bake at 350ºF for 30 to 45 minutes (I did 40 minutes and it was perfect) until thoroughly warmed through.


Corn casserole hanging out with a piece of tequila lime chicken.

Seriously delicious stuff and so easy to make.

Mimi's Western Baked Beans

Cam and I went to our friend Josh's birthday party on Saturday and I needed to whip up a very quick and tasty side dish. Or as Josh put it, a heavy hor d'oeuvre. It was a hit.

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs ground beef (we used lean and it worked great!)

1 packet onion soup mix

1 20 oz. bottle of ketchup (or 2.5 cups of ketchup)

2 heaping tablespoons mustard (we used spicy)

1 large can Van Camp's Pork & Beans

Crackers (we used Wheatables)

Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Brown the beef in a skillet. Once the beef is brown, turn the flame down to low and add the onion soup mix, ketchup and mustard. Stir until mixed well. Transfer the mixture to a 9x13 casserole dish and then mix in the Pork & Beans. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes.



I served this dish with crackers as it has the consistency of thick chili, but people at the party also just ate it off their plate sans crackers. This recipe would also work well as a meal on rice with some veggies on the side.

* A big thank you to Cameron's grandma ("Mimi") for the quick and easy recipe.