WHOLE CORN SPOON BREAD

This is a really heavy souffle. It is excellent as a side dish with butter, or with the gravy or sauce from chicken, pork, or even game.

Ingredients

1/4 cup Onion or shallots, finely chopped
2 cups Milk
½ tsp Salt (May be omitted for dietary reasons)
3/4 cup Cornmeal
1 cup Whole kernel corn
4 Tbsp Butter (May use low cholesterol canola oil)
4 ea Eggs, separated

Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 375 ; Butter a 1 ½ quart casserole pan (I'm afraid that for this you must use butter or margarine).

Run the whole kernel corn and the onion in a food processor, blender or chop up the corn and onion as fine as you can. Set aside for later.

Beat egg yolks with a fork until they are well mixed or pale yellow. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until you have stiff peaks. Set both of these aside.

Bring the milk and salt (if you use it) to just under a boil. Stir in the cornmeal and continue to stir until it thickens. When it boils, turn the fire very low and cook for about 12 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally (Corn meal should be done. Taste a little bit and if not done, cook a little more). Add the butter and the whole kernel corn with the onion in it. Remove from the heat and stir. Beat in the egg yolks. (To do this add a spoon of the cooked cornmeal mixture to the egg yolks and stir. Add a second couple spoons of the cornmeal to the egg mixture. Now add this to the cornmeal in the pan and quickly stir until it is well mixed.) Cool the mixture slightly and fold in the egg whites. Don't beat this , but bring up from the bottom and fold carefully over the top. You don't want to break all of those nice bubbles that you have made in the egg whites. Pour into your buttered pan and bake at 375 for 40 minutes. Don't over fill the pan; it should be about ½ full. This spoon bread will puff up in the pan as it bakes, but it will also fall if you open the oven early to look. It should look slightly brown on top. Serve immediately as the spoon bread will start to fall almost immediately.

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