recipes? we don't need no stinkin' recipes!

I subscribe to a number of magazines. Real Simple (a gift, actually), Sports Illustrated (gotta read about the baseball men), The National Review (yes, I am a republican), and Cooking Light. I do love Cooking Light. Last month's issue had on the inside cover a picture of "creamed corn, with bacon and leek" and then a url to find the recipe on their website. Hmm... well, I don't have Internet at home. My husband and I both stare at computers all day at work and while we actually have 2 computers in our house (mostly for playing games), we don't subscribe to an ISP. We also do not have a land line phone but that's another story. I thought to myself, "how annoying, Cooking Light! Thank you for adding another step to my recipe reading experience!" Anyway, I decided that I know how to make creamed corn and I know what bacon and leeks are so I don't need Cooking Light! No, sir, I don't need them at all!

Okay, so here is my recipe for creamed corn with bacon and leeks. It was delicious, I might add.

First of all, you need one of these -
What's that, you ask? Why, it's a corn zipper! Works like a charm. It pulls the kernels right off and then I can use it to go back and get the milk out of the cob. It was gift (from the same person who gives me Real Simple!!). You can buy one here.

Creamed corn with bacon and leeks

What I used -
6 ears of fresh corn or 3 cups of frozen corn kernels
1 large red pepper, large dice
1 bunch of leeks, white part only, washed really well and sliced into 1/4
5 slices of extra thick sliced bacon
1/2 - 1 cup of milk
1 cup of chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon of dried thyme

How I did it -
In a large pot, cook the bacon over medium high heat until crispy. While the bacon is cooking, use the fancy corn zipper to remove all the corn kernels and pulp and milk from the corn cobs. Remove bacon, reserving the fat. Put the corn kernels, red pepper and leek into the reserved fat and season with salt and fresh cracked pepper. Cook until the leek and red pepper are tender - about 5-8 minutes, stirring often. Add the milk, corn pulp and milk, stock, and thyme and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Using an immersion blender (you have one, right?) spot blend some of the corn or you can mash the corn with a potato masher or a fork or just leave it all whole but the idea is for some of the corn to be pureed - hence creamed corn. I supposed you could put a cup or two in a food processor or blender but be really super careful as it really stinks to get hot creamy corn all over your arms. Happened to me in culinary school. Yikes was that hot. Anyway, I crumbled the bacon and put half of it in the corn mixture and half of it on top.

Okay, so I did log onto Cooking Light and read their recipe and they put cornstarch and sugar in the recipe. I don't think summer corn needs any sugar and the pulp and milk from the corn seemed to thicken mine just fine. Also, CL did not add a red pepper or any dried thyme, so I would say my recipe is altogether superior to theirs, right? Although, their picture is (as usual) much better than mine. I really need to take some classes, you know?

Hmmm... well, my sister is coming to visit me at the end of September and I so very excited about that! I really need to start on that quilt.