Corn and Cheese
This is the meal our great grandmothers substituted maccaroni and cheese with during the WORLD WAR ONE IN 1917- in the state of South Dakota.
Corn may be used with any kind of American cheese in place of macaroni for the preparation of a delicious and nutritive combination dish, similar to our standard everyday comfort food dish.
For this highly nutritive dish you will need:
1 1 cup of samp (coarsely ground or cracked corn)
1 quart of water
11/2 teaspoons of kosher salt
Boil the samp in the salted water until tender. The proportion of the samp to water is standard: 1 cup of samp to three cups of cold fresh water. Drain the cereal and combine it with the following sauce made as this:
Cheese Sauce for the corn porridge(mamalyga)
1 cup of the skim milk
1 cup of finely cut cheese - any American hard cheese will be fine
2 tablespoons of all purpose white wheat flour
1 teaspoon of kosher salt - Morton salt will do fine as well
1/4 teaspoon mustard, Hungarian paprika, or other favorite seasoning
Mix the seasonings with the dry flour in a mixing bowl, mix well again and add enough milk to form into a smooth paste. Add the remainder of the milk and heat in a stewpan, put it on a stove, stir ring constantly until your sauce gets thick. Then add the cheese into the pan and stir with a wooden spoon until it is fully melted.
Put the layer of the boiled samp into your baking dish or casserole. Add a layer of the cheese sauce and so alternate the layers until all the produce is all used.
Sprinkle the top of your casserole with the bread crumbs over the top layer of sauce and cook in a medium hot oven until your crumbs turn to nice brown.