Secrets from the Cookie Princess: Scalloped Corn with Bacon

Monday, August 13, 2012

Scalloped Corn with Bacon

After zucchini and tomatoes, I think corn is that other summer vegetable that everyone looks forward to enjoying. And even though this summer's heat and minimal rain across much of the country has made corn on the cob eating less stellar than years past, the corn is still mighty tasty if you know what to do with it. Like adding bacon. Because as we know, everything is better with bacon. And this corn is no different. Sweet corn cut off the cob and cooked in a savory sauce with bacon stirred through and baked to a creamy goodness. It's not quite creamed corn, more like a simply creamy corn (yes, there's a difference, I just can't explain it). Yes, delicious isn't quite a good enough word. But corn masterpiece seems so pretentious.

It's Secret Recipe Club time! By now, you probably know what that means. Each Monday a group of bloggers post a recipe they've made from another blogger's repertoire. Nobody knows who's featuring their blog until that day and it's a fun chance to visit new blogs and try something different. Visit some of the other bloggers in my group by checking out the blog hop at the bottom of this post. To learn more about Secret Recipe Club, click here.

This month I had the pleasure of cooking from Elli's blog, The Bitchin' Kitchin'. Ellie is adorable, with a very witty and sarcastic blog and talks to you just like a friend. Ellie lives in New Jersey, has fun at restaurants in New York City, and makes yummy food. I had a very hard time choosing from Ellie's selection and giggled when I saw her recipe for Zucchini Bread with Dried Cranberries--Ellie's adaptation of my own Zucchini Cranberry Coconut Bread for the same Food Network Magazine recipe. But would it be the Spekuloos Cookies, the Slow Cooker Hungarian Goulash, the Creamy Dijon Chicken, the Vegetable Meatloaf? No, it had to be the Scalloped Corn with Bacon. Partly because, hello is has bacon. and I had enough ears of corn from the farm stand that asked nicely to be made into something awesome. I adjusted Ellie's recipe to use skim milk rather than half & half, which caused me to use 3 Tablespoons of flour to help it thicken a little more. And I used all my butter to saute the onions, rather than save some for the topping (only because I can't follow directions and used it all up front by accident). I also subbed Frank's Hot Sauce for the habanero sauce since I had it on hand. If you feel compelled, adding more bacon would not hurt this dish. I stuck with Ellie's 4 slices of bacon, but you could totally do 6 slices. And because I used a square dish, rather than rectangular, I only used 1/4 cup of bread crumbs to sprinkle over top since I had less surface area. This is a great dish to show off late summer's star vegetable and will definitely have everyone asking for more.

Scalloped Corn with Bacon

Ingredients

3 cups sweet corn (about 5 ears)
4 strips of bacon, cooked
2 Tablespoons butter
1 small onion, finely diced
3 Tablespoons flour
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 1/2 cups skim milk
2 egg yolks, beaten
1/4 to 1/2 cup bread crumbs

To remove corn from ears, place ear vertically in the center of a tube pan and using a sharp knife, cut straight down the side, turning ear until all kernels are removed.

Place bacon on rack placed on a foil lined pan and bake at 400 degrees F for 10-18 minutes, depending on how crispy you like it. (Note: The grease will catch in the foil, making for easy clean up.) When bacon has cooled, roughly chop and set aside.