Last Spoonful of Summer- Fresh Corn Spoon Bread

I've been really off the ball in taking advantage of summer produce. This summer seemed just so hot, and so endless. Sure there's a wonderful produce bounty, but just thinking about cooking seemed like hard work in 110 degree temperatures. So I decided I'd better take a stab at something summery before the heat has completely passed me by. When it came time to choose I went with this Fresh Corn Spoon Bread from the September issue of Everyday Food. I felt brave for choosing it, since it required several different steps. And let's face, lately the many steps I've been taking in the kitchen have been from the freezer to the microwave with another burrito. Sad, but true. I decided I'd serve this with some grilled fish and I had some fresh tomato, sliced into wedges with a sprinkling of salt and pepper on the side. Josh passed on the tomato, generally only likes them in a cooked form. However, he loved the spoon bread. He was shocked when I told him it didn't have any cheese in it. He kept referring to it as corn souffle. Eventually I stopped correcting him, and let him go ahead and think I'm a fancier cook than I am.

Fresh Corn Spoon Bread
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 6

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for baking dish
1/2 small yellow onion, diced small (1/2 cup)
1 jalapeno, diced small
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 cups whole milk
2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
4 large eggs, yolks and whites separated

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking dish. In a medium pot, melt butter over medium-high. Add onion and jalapeno and season with salt and pepper. Cook until onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add milk and corn and cook until milk is very hot but not bubbling, about 3 minutes. Whisk in cornmeal and cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is thick, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool 10 minutes. Whisk in egg yolks.
• In a large bowl, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold into corn mixture, then pour into baking dish. Bake spoon bread until browned on top and set in middle, 30 to 35 minutes, rotating dish halfway through. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

My notes: I used fresh corn, cut from three ears. I didn't really measure, I just figured if two ears usually gives me 1-1.5 cups that three should do the trick. It did taste really good, but I think I could have been a little heavier-handed with the salt & pepper, and my jalapeno seemed to be fairly mild. Would have been nicer with just a little more kick to it. And, I may have slightly over-beaten my egg whites, so keep a close eye. I had to do a little more mixing than folding to weaken them a bit and get things to meld a little better.