A Taste of the South! Southern Style Creamed Corn ~ Homemade Creamed Corn Recipe!!

Today we are starting our series of Thanksgiving dishes for this year.  Never too early to start thinking about the holiday and now is the time to start!  If you are just getting your thoughts together for your holiday meal, let me introduce you to something that I think would make a lovely side dish option for your holiday table.  Southern style creamed corn.

Creamed corn is an institution in the south to be sure! Did you know that there is actually no cream in creamed corn?  The creamy texture comes from the corn milk that is extracted from the cob.  This lends all the flavor and creaminess to the corn and it is something I think you are going to love.

The combination of sweet and savory marry perfectly in this dish.  It is so delicious you will want to lick the plate.  Yes, it is that good!  I started with 8 ears of bread and butter corn.  This is the last of the sweet corn for the season.  So if you are planning to make this for Thanksgiving, I suggest that you find a great place that still has some of this season's corn and grab it.  You can make this ahead of time and freeze it up to three months in advance of your event, so that is one thing you can do before the big day and just thaw, heat and serve.

When you remove the corn from the cob you want to be sure to only shave the outer parts of the kernels off the cobb.  Then go in with the back of your knife and scrape out all the juice and "milk" from the rest of the cobb.  This will look creamy and liquidy.  This is the magic of creamed corn.

I added a couple tablespoons of flour and sugar to the corn and stirred very well.  Then you want to add this mixture to a hot pan with 1/4 cup of melted and sizzling butter.  Mix this up and bring to a simmer.  Allow to cook for 6 to 10 minutes or until the corn is done.  When it turns a brilliant yellow color it usually means it is finished.  At this point you can add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

This creamed corn is a delicious dish to enjoy all by itself or next to just about anything you like.  I am going to be using this creamed corn in a recipe for another Thanksgiving side dish that will be shared in an upcoming video!

I hope this helps to clear up the mystery of creamed corn.  Now you can stop buying that grossness in a can and enjoy delicious creamed corn at the height of the corn season and make enough to stow in the freezer for later.  

I hope you give this Southern style creamed corn a try and I hope you love it!

Happy Eating!

A printable version of this recipe will be available on my website here: http://bit.ly/2enYmGk

You can see how I made this in my YouTube video:

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info@noreenskitchen.com

Noreen's Kitchen

Southern Style

Creamed Corn

Ingredients

8 ears, fresh corn 2 tablespoons all purpose flour 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

4 tablespoons butter 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Step by Step Instructions

Remove corn from cob, by shaving the outer layer of the kernels into a bowl, then using the back of your knife, scrape the cob into the bowl, releasing the corn “milk” from the cob.  This will give you a creamy mixture that gives this dish it distinct texture and taste.

Add the flour and sugar into the corn mixture and stir well to combine.

Melt butter over medium heat in a heavy bottomed skillet.

Add the corn to the hot pan and stir well.

Bring the corn mixture to a simmer and turn down the heat to medium low.  Cook at a simmer for 10 minutes.  Be sure to stir often to avoid both sticking and scorching.  You may find it necessary to add up to ¼ cup of either water or milk to the corn during the cooking process so the pan does not become dry.

Turn off the heat and allow the creamed corn to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

This recipe is not suitable for canning of any kind.  You can freeze this for up to three months.

Store any leftovers in an airtight container and eat within 1 week.

Enjoy!

Sour Cream Biscuits! Not Your Grandma's Biscuit!

Today I want to share with you this simple and delicious twist on a good, old fashioned every day biscuit!  This sour cream biscuit is easy to make just like your traditional buttermilk biscuit, but this uses sour cream and milk instead of buttermilk.  This may be something you can make if you don't want to use buttermilk, don't have it available in your area or just don't feel like running to the store for a special ingredient.  

This is a very basic biscuit recipe.  I have developed this based on my traditional buttermilk biscuit recipe and it makes a big pan full.  You can easily cut this recipe in half if you like or you can make the whole think and only bake what you will eat and freeze the rest of the raw biscuits on a sheet for later use.  

As far as biscuits go this is pretty simple.  Flour, butter, leavener, a bit of sugar for a golden brown finish, milk and sour cream.  You could use all sour cream, but that will make this biscuit super heavy.  Adding the milk give this a lightness that you will enjoy.  Mix it up as you would any other biscuit, by cutting the butter into the dry ingredients then I like to mix the milk and sour cream before pouring into the bowl.  Toss with a fork to form a shaggy dough then dump  onto your well flour work surface.

The magic of flaky layers comes in how you handle the dough from here.  First you will want to press everything together.  Don't "knead" the dough.  Fold the dough into itself like you would fold a letter.  This is called laminated.  When you laminate dough you develop layer upon layer of flaky goodness.  When the dough is pressed out like this it will puff kind of like puff pastry, but not as high.  Biscuits are awesome when you prepare the dough like this.  I like to fold the dough into itself at least four times for maximum flakiness.

When you have folded the dough enough times for your liking, be sure not to do it to many times, which will result in a tough biscuit, go ahead and press or roll out into approximately at 10 x 12 inch rectangle.  You will want the dough to be approximately 1/2 inch thick.  Then cut out in the size you like.  This time I used a large, 4 inch biscuit cutter because I will be using these biscuits to serve with creamed chicken for dinner.  You can cut them smaller and my preferred size is the 2 1/2 inch cutter.  It makes perfect size biscuits for biscuits and gravy, serving on the side with eggs or stew or for eating out of hand with butter and jam.  

These bake in a moderate oven at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes or until they are golden brown.  When they come out of the oven, I like to brush the tops with melted butter.  This will add flavor and ensure a soft top to your biscuits.  Allow these to cool for a few minutes before serving, even though they will be very hard to resist!

These biscuits are flaky, buttery, and have an amazing tang from the sour cream.  Different that that of the buttermilk.  These are simply delicious and I may say that I like them just a little more than my traditional recipe for buttermilk biscuits!  This recipe will definitely be showing up more often at my house!

I hope that you will give these sour cream biscuits a try some time soon and I hope you love them!

Happy Eating!

You can see how I made these in my YouTube video:

Noreen's Kitchen

 Sour Cream Biscuits

Ingredients

4 cups all purpose flour 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, cold and cubed 2 tablespoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt 1 cup sour cream 1 cup milk Melted butter for brushing on top

Step by Step Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl blend flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Whisk together. 

Add cubed butter to the flour mixture and toss to coat and make sure the butter cubes are separated.  Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs, sand or coarse meal.

In a small bowl or jug, mix the sour cream and the milk together until smooth. Pour the liquid mixture into the butter and flour mixture.  Blend with a fork until it just comes together.

Flour your work surface liberally with more all purpose flour.  Pour the dough mixture out onto the flour.  Dust the dough with even more flour on the top.

Work the dough gently by folding into thirds, adding more flour as needed to keep a nice smooth and not sticky dough.  Press down and turn a quarter turn.  Fold into thirds again, press down, turn a quarter turn and flip the dough over, then repeat the folding and turning process twice more.

Roll or pat the dough out into a 12 x 16 inch (approximately) rectangle.  Then cut out using a biscuit cutter in the size desired.  Be sure not to twist your cutter.  That will cause your biscuits to be lopsided and also will inhibit them from rising to their fullest.

Place cut biscuits on a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper.

You can choose to place the biscuits close together or leave an inch or two between.  This is up to you, depending on whether or not you like your biscuits crispy all around the edges or soft. 

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or just until golden brown on top and around the edges.

Remove from oven and brush with melted butter.  Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.


Get a printable version of this recipe on my website:  http://bit.ly/2aW06mn

A Taste of the Keys! Key Lime Pound Cake! The Perfect Summer Dessert!

Spring has arrived for many of us, even if I did see my friends in Flagstaff, AZ receiving snow and below freezing temperatures on May 1st!  UGH!  Today I wanted to share with you a recipe for a delicious key lime pound cake that is sure to chase the winter doldrums and put you in the mood for a tropical holiday! 

This pound cake is sweet, but not too sweet, it is tangy and refreshing and perfect!  I am a pound cake fan!  An aficionado, if you will.  We love it plain and with flavor.  My grandmother made a five flavor pound cake that was to die for!  This one is a close second!  This key lime pound cake is just delicious.  A few weeks ago, a friend from church tagged me in a post on Facebook for a recipe for a key lime pound cake with a cream cheese frosting.  She told me how good that it looked and suggested that I be the one to make it for an upcoming potluck supper at church.  So how could I refuse?  She would love it and so would everyone else.  However I did not use the recipe from the post.   I used my own pound cake recipe and I boosted the flavor by making this a key lime pound cake.

Like all good pound cakes this one starts with an entire pound of butter!  Yes, an entire pound.  Remember, this makes a large cake or two standard size loaves of pound cake, so this is going to serve a lot of people.  In all, this should serve between 24 and 30.  You don’t need a large slice to be satisfied.  This is rich and buttery and delicious.  Be sure to use good quality butter and not margarine which is nothing more than whipped oil and will give you a very disappointing, substandard outcome.  So use the butter you will be glad you did.  I prefer to use locally produced roll butter if I can find it, but I also love Cabot Cooperative Creamery butter.  That is the one that I regularly reach for in the grocer's case. 

Eggs, flour, milk and sugar round out the basics and then the flavorizers to boost this cake and make it an amazing tropical, treat reminiscent of a vacation in the keys and a reminder of what Papa himself, Earnest Hemingway may have once enjoyed on a balmy, breezy afternoon on the veranda while writing one of his classic novels.  A bit much?  Maybe, but who cares?  Key limes are very small and sometimes hard to come by so I usually use Nellie and Joe's Famous Key West Lime Juice.  Since you need a half a cup for the cake and over a quarter cup for the glaze, that is a lot of tiny little limes to squeeze.  So use the juice in the bottle.  It is really good quality.  I have it on hand all the time.  However, you will still need to use fresh limes to grate 4 tablespoons of zest for the cake and an additional two for the topping.  So about six limes will give you that amount.  You can use the limes for other things like your tea or your gin an tonic if you are so inclined.  They won't go to waste!  I have also used vanilla extract as well as lime extract and lime crystals.  If do not have or cannot find the latter two items, don't sweat it, your cake will be delicious with or without.  The extract and the True Lime powder simply boost the lime flavor and tang of this cake and take it over the top!

I have used a mixer to make the batter, you should be sure to take the time to cream the butter and the sugar until they have become nearly white in color and light and fluffy.  Then add the eggs one at a time and the flavorings and then alternately the flour and milk.  You always want to end with the flour.  Be careful not to over mix and not to whip any additional air into the batter once the flour and milk have been added.  You want your pound cake to be dense not full of air. 

This cake goes in for a long slow bake.  I have used a tube pan.  You can use that or a bundt pan or two standard loaf pans 9 x 5 inches.  The tube or bundt pan bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 40 minutes while the loaves take just 1 hour and 15 minutes.  You will want to do the toothpick test to be sure that they are done properly.  Remember, no moisture on the pick or it goes back to finish for a few minutes longer.  Remove the cake and allow it to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

When cooled, simply make up your glaze, drizzle on top and sprinkle with the remaining lime zest.  Voila!  A beautiful tropical treat perfect for any summer gathering or celebration!

This is delicious on it's own but dare I say, topped with a dollop of homemade whipped cream will really take this memorable cake over the top!  I promise people will be asking for the recipe!

I hope that you will give this key lime pound cake a try some time soon and I hope you love it! 

Happy Eating!

 Key Lime Pound Cake

Ingredients

4 sticks (1 pound) real butter, softened     Do not use margarine!! 3 cups granulated sugar 6 eggs at room temperature 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 teaspoon lime extract (optional) 4 cups all purpose flour (not self rising) 1/2 cup key lime juice 4 tablespoons fresh lime zest

1 teaspoon lime juice crystals (optional) 1/4 cup milk 1/4 cup heavy cream Glaze 2 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar 5 tablespoons key lime juice 2 tablespoons fresh lime zest for topping

Step by Step Instructions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Beat butter with mixer until light and fluffy.

Add sugar to butter and cream together until light and fluffy, at least three to five minutes.

Using the mixer on low speed, add eggs one at a time waiting 30 seconds between each addition to make sure the eggs are well incorporated.

Add extracts, lime juice, lime zest and lime juice crystals if using.  Stir to combine. 

Add flour and milk in three additions.  Alternating between 1/3 flour and then 1/2 milk, then another 1/3 of the flour, the remaining 1/2 of the milk and ending with the rest of the flour.  Blend just until well combined.

The cake can be made in a large 10 cup Bundt pan or 10 cup tube or Angel Food cake pan or in 2 standard 9 x 5 loaf pans.  Spray the pans well and if desired, line with parchment paper to ensure good release.  Make sure to spray the parchment paper as well.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes for the loaves or 1 hour and 40 minutes for the Bundt or Tube pan.  The cake is done when a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean and free of any visible moisture.

Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes then remove from pan and place on a rack to cool completely.

Mix powdered sugar and lime juice together to create a glaze that will drizzle nicely off the spoon.  Spoon over the cake evenly and allow to drip down the sides of the cake.

Sprinkle lime zest over the glazed cake.

Allow glaze to set completely before cutting the cake. 

Store cake in airtight containers, tins, or wrapped well in plastic wrap to retain freshness.


Here is a printable PDF version of this recipe:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_AD4OtxsqvmZ01ESkRwOHVyaE0/view?usp=sharing

See how I made this in my  YouTube Video:

What's for Dinner? Easy Oven Shrimp Scampi

A Shrimp By Any Other Name Would Still Be As Delicious

I have vivid memories of being a child and going out for fancy dinners with my family.  Not all the time, but for special occasions.  It was on this special trips that my parents introduced my brother and I to a world of culinary delights.  It would be these dinners that would develop our likes and dislikes and help us to be adventurous eaters later in life.

You most likely have similar memories, perhaps not like the one I have described, but one of your own.  One that you refer to when you are seated in a special restaurant and are reading the menu, maybe you look for your favorite, whether it be Beef Wellington, Veal Oscar or Chicken Kiev.  It will bring you back to that place when you were a child, when the table was much larger and the napkins seemed more like a bed sheet.  When your mother would let you take a sip of her wine.  You were allowed to order Chocolate Mousse, Baked Alaska or Cherries Jubilee, for dessert.  The latter set aflame table side for maximum impact.  Truly a spectacle to behold!

For me, there are a couple dishes that take me back to that place, when the napkins were big and I had to make an effort to be on my best behavior.  Veal Oscar and Shrimp Scampi are my two favorites that I always search for on a high end menu.  The first is one that I reserve for an evening out, and it is getting more and more difficult to come by, but the scampi, is easy to make yourself and even though you cook at home, you can still achieve the same flavors and memories that you love. 

There is also no reason to kill your self while making this dish.  I mean this is simple and making it anything else would be criminal.  Simple ingredients yield maximum flavor and that is what you want.  This dish is even easy enough to prepare on a busy weeknight.  It literally takes minutes to cook and aside from the cleaning and shelling of the fresh shrimp, really takes little time.

So, relive a happy memory, go back to a simpler time and do it the easy way.  I invite you along for the trip, here is how you make shrimp scampi the oven style, no brainer, maximum flavor way!

OVEN SHRIMP SCAMPI

Here is what you will need to make this dish:

2 pounds shrimp peeled and deveined

1 stick butter

4 cloves minced garlic

Juice of 2 lemons

1 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning

1 tsp. Mrs. Dash

1 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. sea salt

Prepared Angel Hair Pasta

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a baking pan place the stick of butter and place in oven until melted.  When butter is sizzly and melted remove from oven and add minced garlic and shrimp and toss to coat.  Return pan to oven and allow to cook for 5 to7 minutes or until the shrimp are opaque and no longer translucent.  Don’t let them cook for too long otherwise they will be chewy and tough and you don’t want that. 

When shrimp are cooked through remove from oven and add Salt, Old Bay, Paprika and Mrs. Dash along with the juice of 2 lemons, toss to combine and you are ready to serve of some angel hair pasta or rice, your choice.

I hope you try this and I hope you enjoy it!  As Always, Happy Eating!