Spicy Creamed Corn

Spicy Creamed Corn

Last weekend our friends got married and had their reception catered by Woody's Smoke Shack here in Des Moines. All of it was absolutely delicious, from the brisket to the cornbread. In the middle (of the buffet table) was this amazing creamed corn. (Not THIS cream corn here--sorry.) It had actual cream in it and what looked like little pools of butter. There was a bit of an orange-ish tinge to it and it was subtly spicy, so I think they put in cayenne pepper. 
At any rate, it made me want more. For some reason I'm yet unaware of, most BBQ places out here in the Midwest are closed on Sunday. We figured that out the hard way when we drove to Kansas City one Sunday afternoon for BBQ, and found that almost all of the awesome places we went for were closed. Sigh. So, in order to get my spicy creamed corn, I had to make it myself today. I really just made this up and will have to try again once I have Woody's again, but for now, this satisfied my craving.
I added probably too much spice to mine, so if you're not a fan of spicy, back off of the cayenne and jalepeno. If you decide to omit both of those completely, I suggest you at least add a little black pepper to it. This creamed corn is sweet, salty, spicy, and creamy. Lots of good textures and flavors going on here. Come sweet corn season next month, I will try a fresh sweet creamed corn. Stay tuned.

Spicy Creamed Corn

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons onion, finely chopped with a few seeds
• 4 tablespoons butter, divided
• 2 cups frozen sweet corn kernels
• 1 small can cream style corn (8.25 oz.)
• 1 to 2 tablespoons jalepeno, finely chopped (depending on desired level of heat)
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (depending on desired level of heat)
• 1/8 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 2 teaspoons water

Instructions:
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter and add the chopped onions. Saute onions for a few minutes until translucent. Add the frozen corn, canned cream corn, jalepeno, cayenne, paprika, salt, sugar, and cream. Mix and bring to a boil over medium heat. When mixture is boiling, add the cornstarch and water mixture while stirring corn mixture. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20-30 minutes.
Makes about 4 servings