Corn Soup

I'm a compulsive list maker. The act of writing and organizing a list almost gives me as much satisfaction as if I'd actually completed all that was outlined in them. I'm an avid collector of lists…those found in grocery carts or in store aisles. They're little self-contained character sketches.

The other night after I posted the previous blog, I made a list of all the things we've made and documented in the last little while that I'd still like to post about and a list of things I'm excited about making for the first time and the requisite posts to follow as a result. I'm going to start with this ridiculously simple corn soup recipe…well, simple if you have one of these guys.

Corn, next to tomatoes, may be my favorite summer vegetable. All through this last little spurt of not-cooking, I've been thinking about all the corn I'm missing…how pretty soon it's going to be back to only what Kroger can afford me in the way of corn that's nothing compared to the sweetness of locally grown Peaches & Cream or Silver Queen corn that's so abundant at our Farmer's market during the summer.

When preparing corn, I eat quite a few raw chunks because of their pure and unadulterated sweetness. The cat and I love corn. She's never showed any interest in human food until one day…I brought home an armload of corn; set it on the kitchen table and she went crazy. I tried to take pictures, but she's writhes around so crazily, they never come out right using my dinky little point and shoot.

She doesn't try to eat it; rather she rubs her face against it and kind of half bites at it. It's adorable, really, but I'm pretty biased. Now every time I bring home corn, I tear off a little strip of husk for her to cart around the house for a while.


So, this corn soup is really only corn and butter and whatever garnishes you like:

Creamy Corn Soup
Lifted straight from Everyday Food

Ingredients

16 ears of yellow corn stripped from the cob
4 tablespoons of butter (cut into small pieces)
1 tablespoon of coarse salt

Garnishes:

Tortilla chips
Lime wedges
Scallions
Chives (from our garden, as seen above)
Hot sauce

1. Remove husks and silks from corn. Holding ears in a large bowl, slice off kernels (to yield about 10 cups). When slicing corn from cobs, work in a deep bowl to catch the kernels and any juices. In two batches, puree kernels and accumulated juices with a total of 2 cups water until chunky.
2. In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, cook pureed corn, butter, 4 cups water, and salt until butter is melted and soup is heated through, 5 minutes.
3. Serve hot, garnished with tortilla chips, lime wedges, and sliced scallions, as desired. Or let cool, then freeze in individual servings; reheat over medium-low.

If and when I do get some corn in the near future, I've been inspired by a post over on Vegan Crunk to make a raw corn soup. I intend to puree corn with jalapeño, red pepper, cilantro, and a healthy dose of freshly Jack LeLanned lime juice, maybe an avocado to thicken it or some coconut milk…the same concept, only rawer and slightly healthier.

P.S. I've taken to reserving the naked corncobs in a big zip lock in the freezer for use in future homemade veggie stocks.