Sopa Paraguay (cornbread)

Sopa Paraguay is not a soup, its not cornbread and its not a quiche. It is part of my childhood culinary vocabulary. My mother served this creamy cornbread with almost every meal. This and meat empanadas were the go-to foods in my home- always available for snacking.

This is my mother’s recipe as I remember it. It certainly tastes like my mom’s anyway…

Sopa Paraguay

1.5 cups or chopped onions (tahnk you david for pointing out that i left this off the ingredient list!!)
1.5 cups frozen corn
1.5 cups water
1 tblsp coarse salt
1/4 cup butter or margarine- softened
2 eggs
1 cup fresh cheese  (1/2 queso fresco or ricotta salata or fresh farmer’s cheese & 1/2 queso chihuahua or mozzarella or oaxaca)
1 1/2 cups corn meal
1/2 cup milk
1 tblsp cream

Combine the onions and water in a pot, simmer. you can also do this in the microwave- set the onions and water in a bowl and cook for 5 minutes.  Set aside until the water is room temperature.
Combine the corn meal with the  butter and blend with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal with some pea-size butter lumps wrapped in cornmeal.
Add eggs and mix.
Add milk and cream and mix.
Add cheese, and mix (for this particular pan I used a mixture of mozzarella and pepper jack)
Add the onions and water, and mix.
Add frozen corn, and mix. (Yes- frozen- as this cooks the steam from teh ice and butter will give it some lightness- otherwise this bread is as heavy as brick)

The batter looks like a soupy chunky unincorporated mess at this point. Don’t worry. When cooked, alot of the cheese will float to the top, and the interior steam from the frozen corn will lighten the dough.

Pour into a greased and floured 8 or 9 inch round baking dish. (I use Baker’s Joy)

Bake in convection oven (400 deg. F) for approx 50 minutes.

Tags: corn, cornbread, Paraguay, recipe, sopa paraguay