Corn Casserole Just Like El Torito's

Yesterday, I attended a potluck luncheon and had been assigned a cornbread-like side dish to accompany the main course of Chili.  Without hesitation I chose Corn Casserole.  It has long been a favorite side of mine ever since our neighbor from newlywed days first shared the recipe with me.  I love it with warm winter soups, chili. and especially as part of a Mexican menu.  We will be serving it in Honduras next month, too, along with Taco Soup (see blog).

Tonight we are hosting the Men's and Women's Ultimate (Frisbee) Teams from CSULB for their end-of-semester dinner.  My daughter and I chose a Taco Bar for simplicity of preparation, and appeal to many, including vegetarians who can choose their ingredients.   In addition to setting up a buffet bar with:

• flour tortillas
• tortilla chips
• taco-seasoned ground turkey
• refried red beans
• cheese
• sour cream
• chopped red onions
• lettuce
• tomato
• guacamole
• 2 kinds of salsa
• nacho cheese and
• cilantro

we are serving corn casserole which is best served lukewarm, truly!

What I love about this recipe is that it can be made in the pan in which you'll be baking it, unless, like today, I've doubled the recipe and used a larger metal pan and not my smaller casserole dish (9"x13" pan works well, too).  It doubles beautifully with the same baking time.

1 stick butter (1/2 C)
8oz. sour cream
1- 8.5 oz. box Jiffy cornbread mix (or 1 1/2 C of another brand)
1- 15oz can whole kernal corn, do NOT drain
1- 15 oz. can creamed corn

Melt the butter.  I usually do this in the dish in which I'll be baking the casserole.  If you use a separate microwave-safe dish for this purpose, pour the melted butter into the pan.  Add the rest of the ingredients to the pan and mix well.  Bake for about 1 hour at 350 degrees F.  The dish is souffle-like in that it will rise and seemingly sink when you pull it out of the oven.  It is supposed to do this. 

I like to bake this dish ahead and let it cool sufficiently so that I can serve it with a spring scoop (#30 or #18) onto a plate just like El Torito Restaurant, but it can be served warm with just a spoon.

My thanks to Pat G. for many fun years as neightbors and even more using her recipe!