Zellwood Sweet Cream Corn and Broccoli Casserole

Last night I made broccoli casserole and Zellwood sweet cream corn for dinner. I also made fried chicken, buttermilk biscuits, potato salad, and a peach pie. But I don't want this blog to be a full-length cookbook, so I am just sharing my broccoli casserole and Zellwood sweet cream corn recipes. I wasn't planning to blog on these, so I only have one (low-quality) picture.

First, I will tell you about how I made my broccoli casserole. This is a great dish for kids who don't generally like eating broccoli or green vegetables.

Here are the ingredients:

3 cups broccoli florets
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 and 1/2 cups mild shredded cheese
1 box cornbread stuffing
Butter and water for stuffing, follow directions on box for amounts

I preheated my oven to 350. I started out with some pre-cut broccoli florets. I boiled 4 cups of water, put the florets in the pot, and let them boil for about five minutes. Then I followed the directions on the box for cooking the cornbread stuffing. Sometimes I make my own cornbread stuffing from scratch. But because I was making six items in all from scratch for this meal, I figured I would just go with the box.

Meanwhile, I combined about 1 cup of sour cream and 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream in a glass casserole dish. I stirred the two until smooth and then added about 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese. In all, I have 1 and 1/2 cups of cheese listed for the recipe. But if you prefer your casserole to be more cheesy, then using 2 cups would work well.

I had some fresh chives on hand, so I chopped some up to add with the broccoli. However, this is not necessary for the dish. After combining the cheese, sour cream, and heavy cream, I drained the broccoli and added it to the casserole. I stirred it up and mixed another 1/2 cup of cheese in. Then I sprinkled the rest of the cheese on top. Last, I evenly covered the top with the cornbread stuffing. Then I placed the dish into the oven, uncovered, for about 35 minutes.


Next, the Zellwood sweet cream corn.

I got my corn from a roadside produce stand in Mount Dora, the town next to Zellwood. For anyone who doesn't know, Zellwood is a small town in Orange County, Florida that is famous for their sweet corn. In fact, every year they have a big festival: the Zellwood Sweet Corn Festival. Their corn is really and truly the sweetest I have ever tasted. And this dish tastes like it has sugar in it, even though I have not added a single grain of sugar.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon flour
6 ears of sweet corn (if sweet corn isn't in season, you can use 1 1/2 cups of frozen corn)
1 cup of heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Husk the corn. Add to a pot of boiling water and cook for 10-15 minutes. When done cooking, let corn cool. Then take a sharp knife and slice the corn off the cob.

In a small pot, melt the butter on low heat. Then add the flour and stir until smooth. Raise the heat to medium-low. Add the heavy cream, salt, and pepper. Stir until all ingredients in the pot have been combined. Then add the corn. Cook, stirring continuously, until you have reached the desired temperature for serving (no more than 10 minutes). Serve immediately.