Simple and Sweet Holliday Corn Pudding {Cook the Books}

It's T-Minus errr a few days until Thanksgiving Day. I'm in charge of bringing a side dish to my family's dinner table. Parents, sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews, we have a blessedly large family. What to bring?

Quite honestly, I could bring a bowl of buttered mashed potatoes or a green bean casserole and everyone would be happy as a clam, except for me of course. I'm not sure when, where or how I became so obsessed  captivated and bewitched with cooking in general and then, true to follow, somewhere along the lines it became expected that I bring something interesting,  different  and amazing all at the same time to the table (I'm sure it's all in my head). On the flip side, I have been known to overcompensate and make a concoction  mélange  of flavors and spices that have received a raised eyebrow or two from less adventurous folk. The poor, unadventurous souls. 

I stick to my principals. Over spiced at times however they may be.  (T-Day 2009 had obviously left some scars on my ego.)   eghhemm  moving on shall we?

So.  I shall bring them……….

Holiday Corn Pudding!!!

(I'm hearing the theme from "The Croods")   

"Da da daaaaaaa"  

Someone please tell me what movie this came from!!! Planet of the Apes? Star Trek?  Gahh!

Moving on.


Super simple and naturally sweet with a deliciously creamy and cheesy center. That's what I'll bring to the table this year. Sweet is my middle name just so you know.

It could happen.



Anyhoo,  My talented and ambitious friend, Heather from GirliChef  hosts a fun book club every month called "Cook the Books" I've been a fan for years actually but this is my very first time contributing.  (Book Clubs scare me.)

However, when I found out that

a.) This months featured book was from one of my long time favorite authors, Barbara Kingsolver

and

b.) All I had to do was make/bake/create a recipe from her book "Animal Vegetable Mineral" I dove in head first!

In her first non-fiction book, Kingsolver writes of her family's move from Tuscon, Az. (I'm a native Zonie) to her husband's inherited farm in the rural Appalachian Mountains. While this book received some criticism for not being a "realistic" alternative for most lazy Americans, I found it interesting and took it for what it was intended for, A woman's journey and struggles to find a way to live life simply and gratefully. I will not go into the critical masses remarks about how this book is so far fetched because her children didn't rebel due to the lack of Orios and processed foods and how they should have been "embarrassed" to bring their friends over to their home due to the lack of Coke in the fridge.

Furthermore, I wasn't offended as some readers seem to have been with this book but instead took what I could from it and found it intriguing how each of us handles change differently, views the importance of food and fortune differently and accepts those differences with either grace or with malice and fear.

The fun part! Picking a recipe from the book "Animal Vegetable Mineral" 

I went with a seasonal recipe, true to the book and made Kingsolver's "Holiday Corn Pudding"

According to her, "It's so simple a 9 year old can do it."  It was. In fact, my 4 year old did most of the work which was primarily dumping the small list of ingredients into a bowl and mixing. 

As you can see above, I chose to pour my corn pudding into small, individual ramekins for a fun presentation and a creamier pudding. If you do this, you will need to place them into a baking dish with water filled to about 1/2 way up the ramekins. This will prevent them from drying out before they are cooked through. I suggest putting the filled ramekins into the baking dish and then pouring water into the dish so as not to over fill.

Trial and error my friends.

PREP TIME    10 MINUTES
BAKE TIME   45-60 MINUTES
SERVES          6


Ingredients:

2 cans sweet corn
1 cup milk
1 cup grated Gouda cheese (or similar variety)
2 eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon marjoram (thyme or tarragon would work as well)
2 tablespoons dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste
{I added a big pinch of cayenne for a bit of heat}
butter to grease baking dish



Preheat oven to 350F  

Coat a baking dish or ramekins with real butter
Beat eggs. Add milk, beat to combine. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.  

Pour into prepared dish.

If using ramekins, bake for about 60 minutes in a bath of water as described above until puffed at top and lightly browned.
If baking in a casserole dish, bake for 45 minutes or until puffed at top and lightly browned.