Signature Dish

This week, I reached into the cupboard for something to finish off dinner. 

I honor Can Nights.  A wise woman once counseled me, "There's nothing wrong with having canned soup for dinner, Beth," giving me a free pass on nights with no energy for cooking. (Whispering, a thank you in your direction, Margaret K.)

This week, it was a can of Green Giant's Summer Crisp corn.  Summer seems so far away, as does crisp summer corn.  But this is a food lodged deep into my soul...
For I am the girl who got a kernel stuck up her already ample nose at the tender age of 6.

I am the girl who loved Mom's scrambled eggs and corn.  And saltine-crispy scalloped corn.

Corn pancakes, corn waffles, polenta, corn pudding, corn on the cob, black bean soup with corn, creamy corn soup with coconut milk, corn fritters, hush puppies, cornbread.

A good Midwestern girl loves her corn.  In Michigan the fields were set back from the road by gentile stone fences.  From the back seat, their tassels fringed blue sky. 

When we moved to Illinois, the land was so rich and the crop so valuable, corn was planted right to the edge of narrow roads.  From the back seat, I was enveloped in the green world of the middle stalks. Anytime past July, corn towered well above the car.  The narrow roads took quick, blind turns around the fields.  Beep the horn, we learned, that's how you let other cars know you're rounding the bend.

Bloomington used to have Corn Days, and long lines of folks snaked around the old Courthouse, eager to get the free ears of corn. 

When I had my own garden, of course I planted corn.  Racoons loved it, too. 

After my first Texas stint, I imported a Texas Baked Corn recipe with staggeringly excessive amounts of butter and cream cheese and a little bit of jalapeno to the Midwest.

"Drain 2 12 oz. cans of Shoepeg corn.  Make a sauce of 6 oz. of Philadelphia cream cheese, 1/4 lb. butter, 1/4 c. sweet milk, dash of garlic salt.  Heat slowly so it does not stick.  Combine with drained corn.  Mince 2 seeded jalapeno peppers and add. Season to taste and place in buttered baking dish.  Bake at 350 until lightly browned, about 30 minutes."

And then I graduated to "light" food, and brought this Cooking Light recipe to every potluck, though--truth be told--I diligently brought back the real eggs, the salt and the butter, so in the end, there was little "light" about it.

Easy Corn Casserole
Ingredients



1/4 cup egg substitute

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 (8 3/4-ounce) can no-salt-added whole-kernel corn, drained

1 (8 3/4-ounce) can no-salt-added cream-style corn
1 (8 1/2-ounce) package corn muffin mix

1 (8-ounce) carton plain fat-free yogurt


Cooking spray


Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl; stir well. Pour into an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until set.

Now in Van Horn, I prefer corn, not flour, tortillas.  And the last time I planned a visit to Iowa, I made sure it was during the sweet corn harvest.