The Extended Family Kef loves a good corn casserole. We have several versions, but this is maybe the best...depending on who you ask. This one is brought to you by ChampagneOnly Kef (mother of CafeKef, dear friend of MamaKef), who has been pioneering the gluten-free life since 1997.
Ingredients
- 1.5 c water
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1.5 c milk
- 3/4 c stone-ground cornmeal
- 1.5 TBS butter
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 green onions, finely chopped
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1.5 c corn kernels (canned, frozen, fresh...whatever)
- 3 TBS parmesan cheese, grated
Assembly
1. Preheat oven to 400F. Grease casserole dish (1.5 qt if you have it).
2. In large sauce pan, heat water, salt, and half of milk on high until it boils. Reduce heat to medium-low and whisk in the corn meal gradually. Cover and simmer until the mixture becomes thick and pasty-ish. Whisk frequently. This should take about 10 minutes.
3. Remove corn mixture from heat and whisk in butter until melted. Keep whisking and add remaining milk gradually. Whisk in eggs one at a time, and then the baking powder.
4. Stir in green onions, corn, Parmesan, and pepper until combined. Pour into the casserole dish and use a spatula to smooth top.
5. Bake 45-60 minutes, until golden and knife comes out clean.
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"It is a miracle if you can find true friends, and it is a miracle if you
have enough food to eat, and it is a miracle if you get to spend your
days and evenings doing whatever it is you like to do, and the holiday
season—like all the other seasons—is a good time not only to tell
stories of miracles, but to think about the miracles in your own life,
and to be grateful for them." —Lemony Snicket
There are many things that
have afforded me great success in this world-- I'm a white person from
the US who went to college and is employed. To 99.99% of the rest of
the world, I wasn't just born on third--I came onto Earth an inch from
home plate.
Few
things have made me feel as privileged as this past weekend, when my
family got together to celebrate a pre-Christmas Extravaganza with me
before I headed back to DC to work both Christmas Eve and Christmas
Day. It was an amazing 36-hour love fest that featured all of the
people I hold dearest, from the family with which I was born to the
mish-mash of folks I have chosen over the years to count among my
people.
The
Kefis have always believed in a big, fat, decorative Christmas, but our
winter holidays have not always been as movie-esque as this one was--
those years that began when the oldest of my siblings became a teenager
and ended when the youngest of us left adolescence behind brought as much
angst and posturing around the holidays for us as they did any other family. We worked hard for our practically-perfect pre-Christmas, and
it made me think about how wonderfully lucky we are if, as adults, we
can move past the family squabbles about presents and table turf that
our complicated world increasingly encourages, and remember how truly
magic Christmas can be, if only we bring to the table with us best
wishes for each other and a healthy sense of humor about ourselves
(making Christmas a champagne-only event doesn't hurt, either).
It
is, of course, more than happy circumstance that my family gets to
enjoy holidays like these at a time when so many families are splintered by
the demands of our world. In some other post at some other time, I
will wax and wane on how closely linked happiness is to privilege. But, for now, let me say without hope or agenda--just because it's
Christmas, and at Christmas you tell the truth--to me, we are perfect.
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