Bread pudding, souffle, or spoonbread. This recipe from Electrolux borrows from all three categories. But no matter the name, you will certainly call it delightful. When baking, it rises like a souffle, but when it cools, the moist, yet dense, center is more like bread pudding. We prefer to simply call it spoonbread because of the simplicity of the recipe. This side dish becomes a sophisticated canvas for the main dishes in any meal.
Servings: 8
Ingredients
5 tablespoons room-temperature butter, divided
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
3/4 cup cornmeal
4 eggs separated, at room temperature
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 cups sweet corn plus its milk
1/2 cup grated Fontina cheese
1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°F and grease a 2-quart baking dish with 1 tablespoon butter. Heat milk, salt, sugar, and cayenne in a 2-quart saucepan until bubbles form around the edges. Whisk in the cornmeal, and cook for about 2 minutes or until the starch grabs hold of the milk and thickens up tremendously. Remove from heat and stir in 4 tablespoons butter one piece at a time.
In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks and heavy cream until the yolks are fully incorporated and the cream is a pale, pretty yellow. Then, in the bowl of your mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites until they reach soft peaks.
Once the cornmeal mixture has cooled for at least 5 minutes, whisk 1/3 of it into the egg yolks and cream. Follow up with the remaining thickened cornmeal, making sure you achieve a homogeneous, pourable batter. Stir in sweet corn and cheeses. Using a spatula, fold 1/3 of the whipped egg whites gently into the batter. Continue with the remaining 2/3. Pour the spoonbread batter into the greased baking pan and slide it onto the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 35-40 minutes.
The spoonbread will puff up and turn a golden brown on top but be slightly moist in the center. This is the way it’s intended to be, but if you prefer it cooked all the way through, increase the baking time by 5 minutes.
