This recipe came from my former mother-in-law. She made it for the big family meals, and I loved it so much, I got the recipe and started bringing it to my side of the family big family meals. So my family attributes the recipe to me.
It's funny how we have 'official' recipes and then we have how we really make it. I'll list the official recipe, but then I'll tell you the secrets, as well.
Oh, and an aside: this recipe always reminds me to never, I repeat NEVER put your good casserole dish on the car while you're strapping your kidlets into their car seats. Because you might forget it there! Oh, and it was a great casserole dish, I still mourn it, it was older fashioned corning ware made to go in a special crock-pot type warmer, so it could either go in the regular oven, or in the crock-pot warmer thing. And I never found where to get a replacement dish for it, even though I carried around the warmer part through several moves, clinging to the possibility of maybe finding a dish that would fit.
Corn Bake Casserole
Small onion (optional)
One quarter green pepper (optional)
One stick butter or margarine
One can whole kernal corn
One can creamed corn
One box corn bread mix
Three eggs
One cup sour cream
One cup grated cheddar cheese
If using onion &/or pepper, saute in butter, if not melt butter. In a bowl, mix cans of corn (draining whole corn), corn bread mix, and eggs. Add cooled butter (or butter mixture). Place in 2 quart casserole dish. In a separate bowl, mix sour cream and grated cheese together. Drop cheese mixture by spoonfuls into casserole. Do not mix.
Bake 45 minutes at 350, or until center is firm.
Secrets:
Even when my MIL first gave me the recipe, I realized that she didn't do it exactly as written. She skipped the green pepper, which I also have always done. And she doubled the sour cream and shredded cheddar, which, of course, I have also always done. I think that's the key to the yumminess. If you made it without the doubling, I think it would be more of a cornbread than the cheesy yummy goodness that it becomes.
My addition was well placed good quality paprika. Paprika goes so well with cheesy, and with corn, so I started adding a good sprinkling to the cheese and sour cream mixture. Maybe 1-2 TBSP, to taste and look.
Other ideas:
Use sour cream with chives, instead of plain.
Use green onions instead of or in addition to regular onions.
I usually use sharp cheddar, but you could also try co-jack, smoked or medium cheddar, or would it be wild to use shredded Swiss?
This recipe is also very easy to double. If you do, you don't necessarily need to double the doubling of the sour cream and cheese. Use your own judgment.
