Savoury sweetcorn pudding recipe

Summer’s passing can feel sad, but take heart: the September kitchen is an uplifting place, filled with the reds, yellows and oranges of tomatoes, chillies, corn, peppers, raspberries and sunflowers.

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I love making corn bread with fresh whole corn kernels, but they are equally good in the baked ricotta dish below. Savoury pudding may sound odd, but eaten alongside a dish of grilled peppers or roasted tomatoes, it makes a great vegetarian main course.

Savoury sweetcorn pudding

Ingredients

• 3 ears of corn
• 100ml of milk
• 3 eggs
• 250g ricotta
• 50g grated cheddar
• 1tbsp chervil, finely chopped (or dill and parsley mixed)
• 50g fresh breadcrumbs
• good pinch sea salt and black pepper
• 1tbsp parmesan, freshly grated

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Tip the ricotta into a sieve to drain while you shave the kernels from the corn with a large knife.
3. Reserve about 100g of the corn kernels and blend the rest in a food processor with the milk, for 2 minutes, to get a smooth batter.
4. Beat the eggs and mix with the herbs, reserved corn kernels, corn milk batter, ricotta, grated cheddar and seasoning.
5. Butter a litre pudding basin and scatter over the breadcrumbs to cover, tipping the bowl so they coat the sides well (keep 1tbsp of breadcrumbs for the top). Pour in the batter, and top with parmesan and the remaining breadcrumbs.
6. Stand the bowl in a roasting dish filled with kettle-hot water and bake for roughly an hour then check by pressing the top lightly to see if it’s firm; if it’s not set cook a little longer.