Cream-style corn

My kitchen is a mess.

Not an I just made a bunch of chicken fried steaks mess. Not even a I just made mashed potatoes for 12 (just ask my aunt, who is still cleaning the roasted garlic mashed potatoes I made some 5 Thanksgivings ago off her ceiling) mess.

Nope, it’s an epic mess of the DIY kitchen remodel variation.

We started on our project, which consists of stripping, sanding and staining our cabinets; painting the walls and countertops; and re-grouting the tile about 2 weeks ago, but kicked it into high gear over the weekend when we were able to dedicate all of our waking hours to the job. We made a lot of progress, but still have much to do.

We decided from the get-go we’d work in sections and try to keep at least part of the kitchen usable most of the time. This is especially important, I’m learning, when you live 30 miles from quality takeout. That being said, any cooking that can be done right now is on a small scale. It’s preferably grilling and something that uses very few dishes. (Which, by the way, are located on my dining room table and covered in a drop cloth at the moment.) There’s also been quite a bit of Sonic (pretty much the only choice in the town we small live in) eaten lately. But, tonight, I was bound and determined to actually cook something and was able to make a one-pot side dish that was as low-maintenance as it was good. Yay for successful experiments!

I had 3 ears of fresh sweet corn in the fridge that needed to be cooked pronto, so I decided to give homemade cream-style corn, one of my favorites but something I’d never made, a shot. Here’s what you’ll need to duplicate it:

3 ears fresh sweet corn

Water

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 tablespoon salt

3 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Cut the corn off the cob and transfer to a saucepan. Add enough water to just almost cover it. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium and add cornstarch, sugar, salt, butter and cream. Stir well. Cook about 10-to 15- minutes on medium heat, and then reduce to low. Let it simmer on low for 1- to 1.5- hours, stirring occasionally. The longer you leave it, the thicker it will get.

Taste and add additional salt or sugar if desired.

It’ll look like this: