Posts Tagged ‘Corn Pudding’

Cyndie’s Cheesy Corn Pudding

Monday, October 19th, 2009
 
Cheesy Corn Puddingweb2 
 
With LESS THAN TWO WEEKS to go before the Pudding Hollow Pudding Festival, I thought I’d post another pudding recipe. I hope it inspires readers to enter the festival’s gala pudding contest.
 
This year’s festival falls on October 31 so I’m offering a recipe from the Queen of Halloween in my hometown of Hawley, Massachusetts, town clerk Cyndie Stetson.
 
Each autumn the spooky display outside Cyndie’s home on West Hawley Road dazzles those of us who drive by. It offers a number of vignettes—a pumpkin crossing, a mad scientist’s lab, a witch’s lair, and a pirate ship—plus assorted spider webs, severed limbs, tombstones, and ghosts.
 
Cyndie1web
 
Indoors, Cyndie celebrates with Halloween jewelry, lights, dolls, and crawling creatures, plus (my personal favorite) an orange cocktail shaker and matching martini glasses.
 
Cyndie assures me she is entering this year’s contest. Two years ago her Autumn Comfort Pudding won the top award, and she has placed as a finalist several times.
 
The hearty pudding recipe below made it to the finals a few years back. It’s perfect comfort food for our current chilly, drippy weather.
 
I plan to adapt it soon. I’d like to substitute standard ingredients for the muffin mix. I’d also like to experiment with a Southwestern version and add a little chipotle and/or cumin. Meanwhile, below lies the easy version from the Queen of Halloween herself.
 
Before I give you the recipe, I want to let readers know about my new book giveaway. In keeping with the season, I am holding a drawing for a copy of The Perfect Pumpkin by Gail Damerow. The book offers a little history, a little advice on cultivation, and a number of tasty-looking recipes.
 
perfpum
 
Anyone who takes out an email subscription to this blog will be eligible for the drawing, which will take place at approximately midnight EDT next Monday, October 26. This includes current subscribers, of course (I hope you’ll spread the word to your friends)! If you’re not a subscriber and would like to sign up, please click on the link below.
 
 
Good luck! And now, here’s Cyndie’s recipe…….
 
Cyndie2web
 
Ingredients:
 
1 8-1/2-ounce box corn muffin mix
1/2 cup (1 stick) sweet butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
1 cup sour cream
1 14-3/4 ounce can cream-style corn, with liquid
1 15-1/4 ounce can whole-kernel corn, with liquid
1 medium onion, diced and sautéed in olive oil
1 medium green or red bell pepper, diced and sautéed in olive oil
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (use a little more for ultimate cheesy-ness)
1 dash each salt and pepper
 
Instructions:
 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, blend all the ingredients well. Place them in a well greased 11-by-7 inch baking pan or round 2-quart casserole dish.
 
Bake the pudding until it is lightly browned on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. This will take about an hour, but start checking after about 45 minutes. Serves 6 as a main dish or 8 to 10 as a side dish.
 
Cyndie (right) was surprised at her pudding-contest victory in 2007.

Cyndie (right) was surprised at her pudding-contest victory in 2007.

Giving Thanks (Part II)

Saturday, November 22nd, 2008

hats-web          The king and high priest of all the festivals was the autumn Thanksgiving. When the apples were all gathered and the cider was all made, and the yellow pumpkins were rolled in from many a hill in billows of gold, and the corn was husked, and the labors of the season were done, and the warm, late days of Indian Summer came in, dreamy, and calm, and still, with just enough frost to crisp the ground of a morning, but with warm traces of benignant, sunny hours at noon, there came over the community a sort of genial repose of spirit — a sense of something accomplished.

                                                 — Harriet Beecher Stowe

turkey-card-web          Here are two additional dishes for Thanksgiving (I’m leaving the turkey to you). The pie may look a little complicated because of its multiple layers. It’s quite simple, however, and can be made the day before. The second layer comes out a lovely pink. Enjoy…….

hushpuppywebHush Puppy Pudding

          In an earlier post I said that I would come up with a non-box-mix-dependent version of Marilyn Pryor’s corn pudding. Here it is. Marilyn originally used 1 cup of cornbread mix instead of half of the flour, the cornmeal, 2 tablespoons of the butter, and the baking powder. You’re certainly welcome to do that if you have cornbread or corn-muffin mix in the house.

          One note: although the pudding looks gorgeous in the flat dish that appears in the photo here, it’s even better in a deeper pan, which keeps the pudding moister.

Ingredients:

3/8 cup yellow cornmeal

1 cup flour

3/4 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup sliced green onions (I used 1 bunch; it didn’t quite make a cup, but it worked)

2 cups plain yogurt

3 eggs, lightly beaten

3/8 cup (3/4 stick) sweet butter, melted

2 10- or 11-ounce cans vacuum-packed corn

Instructions:

          Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 2- to 3-quart casserole dish.

In a large bowl, mix together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, combine the onions, yogurt, eggs, and butter. Stir in the corn, and add this mixture to the cornbread combination, stirring just until the dry ingredients are moistened.

Spoon the resulting batter into the prepared pan, and bake until golden brown and set in the center (about 45 minutes). Serves 6 to 8 as a side dish.

pie-webCranberry Chiffon Pie

          I’m a sucker for cranberries at this time of year when we crave color and flavor. This pie is a little messy when you slice it, but I hate to add gelatin and make it stiff. If you want to make sure it will slice beautifully, use a graham-cracker crust; that way you can freeze the pie until half an hour before you serve it and keep it solid. My family likes goopy delicious things so we use a standard pastry crust.

Ingredients:

For the first layer:

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

3 cups (1 12-ounce bag) cranberries

1 pinch salt

1 prebaked 9-inch pie shell

For the second layer:

3 ounces cream cheese at room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup of the mixture from the first layer

1 cup COLD heavy cream

For the third layer:

sweetened whipped cream to taste

Instructions:

          In a medium saucepan, bring the sugar and water to a boil. Add the cranberries and salt, and simmer until the cranberries pop (about 10 to 15 minutes). Basically, you’re making cranberry sauce so if you have a recipe you prefer feel free to substitute it here. Let the sauce cool to room temperature; then set aside 1/2 cup for the second layer and pour the rest into the pie shell. 

          Next, create the second layer. With an electric beater, whip together the cream cheese, sugar, and reserved cranberry sauce until they are smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the cream, and beat the mixture at low speed until it is blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, turn the mixture to high, and beat it until the cream forms pink peaks (1 to 2 minutes). Spread this layer into the pie shell as well.

          At this point, you must refrigerate the pie, gently covered, for at least 3 hours. You may leave it for up to a day, however, if you want to make it in advance. Just before serving, decorate the pie with whipped cream (or serve the whipped cream on the side.) Serves 6 to 8.

I love to whip cream!

I love to whip cream!

 

 

Hush Puppy Pudding

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
Pirate Captain (and 2008 Pudding Head) Ray Poudrier, left, and First Mate (and Judge) Michael Collins admire Ray's award-winning Hawley Grove Pudding.

Pirate Captain (and 2008 Pudding Head) Ray Poudrier, left, and First Mate (and Judge) Michael Collins admire Ray's award-winning Hawley Grove Pudding. Photo courtesy of Phyllis Gotta.

          The Sons & Daughters of Hawley (the historical society in my small town in Massachusetts) have just pulled off another successful Pudding Hollow Pudding Contest. The pudding contest is my baby so I have to admit I’m a bit prejudiced, but I’ll pretend I’m objective and say that it was a huge success and a lot of fun. This year’s entertainment, “The Pirates of Pudding Hollow” (which posited that our inland town was visited by pirates in the late 18th century), had both the actors and the audience roaring with laughter.

          I’ll post more details and more pictures soon but for now I want to share one of the recipes that made it to the finals, Hush Puppy Pudding from Marilyn Pryor of South Hadley, Massachusetts.

One of our testers for the semi-finals was reluctant to make it because the ingredients include commercial cornbread mix. I understand her scruples (who knows what’s in those mixes?), and one of these days I’ll try to duplicate the pudding using scratch, rather than boxed, ingredients. When that happens, I’ll add the amended recipe to this post.
          In the meantime, as the person who DID prepare it for the semi-finals, I can say that this pudding is very tasty and (except for the cornbread-mix ingredients) quite healthy. I served it with ham, pineapple, and a green salad for a terrific fall meal. And it certainly lived up to its name since Truffle blissfully (and quietly!) ate some of the leftovers.
          For more details about the contest, please visit its web page,
http://www.merrylion.com/master/events/events.html.

Puddings Awaiting Judging

Puddings Awaiting Judging

Hush Puppy Pudding

Ingredients:

1 cup cornbread mix

1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup sliced green onions (I used 1 bunch; it didn’t quite make a cup, but it worked)

2 cups plain yogurt

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) sweet butter, melted

2 10-ounce cans vacuum-packed corn

Instructions:

          Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 2-quart casserole dish.

In a large bowl, mix together the cornbread mix, flour, and salt. In another bowl, combine the onions, yogurt, eggs, and butter. Stir in the corn, and add this mixture to the cornbread combination, stirring just until the dry ingredients are moistened.

Spoon the resulting batter into your prepared pan, and bake until golden brown and set in the center (about 45 minutes). Serves 6 to 8 as a side dish.