Surprisingly Good Corn Soufflé

corn souffle

Recently, I was staring down a bag of corn I’d blanched and frozen the summer before. And seeing as how the hens were laying like crazy, I reached back in my memory to a dish my mom used to make. She called it Corn Pudding. It had eggs and corn and onions and butter and milk. And I remember liking it very much. As I kept digging, I found this delightful concoction that I began to get very excited about. It’s credited to celebrity chef Jacques Pepin. And it’s become my go-to corn dish. It’s simple to make, delicious and fairly flexible in terms of using what you have on hand. I threw in garden chives and thawed green peppers from last summer’s garden. Here’s the genius part: You toss everything into a blender then pour it into a baking dish. Voila! Dinner.

Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients

  • 3 cups corn kernels (about 2-3 ears of fresh corn)
  • 1/2 cup Gruyère or sharp cheddar, cut into small chunks
  • 1/2 cup half-and-half
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 Tbsp. diced pepper (use jalapeño for a kick; green pepper for a milder taste)
  • 1/2 tsp. fine sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh chives
  • butter to grease your pan(s)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
  2. Place corn, cheese, half-and-half, eggs, peppers, salt and black pepper into a blender (a blender can achieve a smoother mixture than a food processor). Blend for about 1 minute. Add chives and pulse, just until mixed in.
  3. Grease 4 one-cup soufflé dishes or ramekins or one large gratin dish. Pour mixture evenly among your pans. Place them on a baking tray. At this point, you can refrigerate for several hours before baking.
  4. Bake the soufflé for 25-30 minutes. Remove once it is puffy, browned and set. Serve immediately (the soufflé begins to fall as soon as it cools).