Mmm. Copes Corn.

So on Saturday, when I took my little trip to tourist hell, I swung by the nifty little Amish bulk food place. It's pretty much exactly like the bulk food place at the 3 family-owned grocery stores in town, but it was close to where I was going at the time.

-side note. I love having a bulk food place handy. Dried minced onion in a little tub? 1.21. Dried minced onion in a McCormic's container? 3.50 (for less onion!)Pasta, candy, odd types of flour, snack mix, couscous, oatmeal... pretty much whatever type of dry good you'd be looking for, they've got it in nice plastic bags, or little tubs. Oh, and it's ridiculously cheap. Good deal.

Anyway. While I was there I picked up some John Copes Dried Corn (honestly, the stuff looks and sounds bizarre, but is extremely tasty), and some couscous, and a few other things I needed. And this weekend I made some tasty treats.

Saturday I whipped up the "Fastest, tastiest lunch" (For there is fast, but there is not always tasty...

2 cups (1 can) chicken broth
1 healthy (really big) pinch of Mrs. Dash
1 cup Couscous
1 bag tuna

Boil broth with seasoning, add couscous and tuna. Take off heat. let it go for 5 minutes. Eat.

And today's masterpiece... Baked Dried Corn with Ham.

A little about John Copes Corn
It's corn, alright, but it's been dried and toasted. It's super sweet, and actually very nutty. You can soak it in hot water for an hour or so, and rehydrate it- and it's good that way, or you can make Baked Corn, which is one of my mom's favorite dishes. It's kind of a corn pudding... I added the ham, "fresh" corn, and onion...

1 package dried corn 7.5 oz(you can mail order- I don't see it too many places)
5 cups milk
4 eggs, beaten
2 really good pinches of dried minced onion
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar (you can always add a pinch more as you serve)
1 ham steak, cut into cubes
1 small can of regular corn, drained
2-3 tablespoons melted butter (I didn't think it really needed it, but it's in the original recipe)
Pepper to taste

Put the dried corn bits into your blender or food processor, and whiz it a bit to break up the pieces somewhat. Don't turn it all into cornmeal, but don't leave it like giant shards of toenails either. Put the corn into a large bowl, and mix with the salt, sugar, onion, milk, well-beaten eggs, corn, butter, and cubed ham (Ok, mix it with EVERYTHING) and pour into a sprayed/buttered casserole dish (2 quarts).

The original recipe says to cook this in a shallow casserole dish at 375 for 1 hour. I ended up doing it in a taller one, and cooking it till the top was brown, and the center was set for the most part. (When you jiggle the pan it still wiggles some, but isn't all liquidy.)

It's wicked tasty...