Cornmeal and Kale Spoon Bread

Every American Thanksgiving, my mom has made what is one of my favorite dishes: Spoon bread. Composed of cornmeal, butter, eggs, and milk, I've always thought of it as a denser, slightly wetter cornbread - and perfect as a side for all things Thanksgiving. I've seen it more eloquently described as a heavy souffle or a savoury pudding - it's a bit like polenta or cornbread in taste, but lighter in texture than both. As I love all things corn, this is something I could eat every day.

When I moved to Canada, my mom's spoon bread recipe was one of the ones I asked her to copy and mail to me so I could do my own American Thanksgiving in Canada. And for every year but the last - when there just wasn't room in my oven - I've made spoon bread at my American Thanksgiving. But why just relegate it to a holiday dish?

I had originally thought I'd make soup with the kale this week. My last week's kale attempt - boiled briefly, then generously salted and buttered - wasn't anything I wanted to make again. With the heat, though, hot soup is the last thing I want to eat. So I searched Epicurious for some alternative uses for kale.

The recipe I was most excited about was Cornmeal and Kale Spoon Bread. One of the people leaving comments on the site was right; this recipe does generate a lot of dirty dishes. I boiled the kale last night to save a step (and a pan) today, but tonight it still generated, oh...2 bowls, a frying pan, a saucepan, and the dish it's baked in.

As for the taste? You'd never really know there were vegetables in it - the flavors all blended together. The roasted red peppers and green onions just melted in, and I wish the cheese had been more assertive. It was a sharp cheddar, and even though we put in more than the recipe called for, the dish wasn't very cheesy. The spoon bread did poof up while cooking, like a good souffle (though not as high), so the texture was light.

Would I make it again? Possibly. I'm undecided if having a larger proportion of vegetables in it would make it better, or just like a strange vegetable casserole bound together with some corn mush. It was tasty, though, and inoffensive; it might be appropriate as a side dish if I'm at a loss for something to make later in the summer. As much as I love spoon bread, it might just be best in its purest form.