Ingredients:
6 cups frozen sweet corn, defrosted
3 scallions, each one trimmed and halved
1 clove garlic, peeled
1/4 cup semolina
6 cups hot vegetable stock made from concentrate or bouillon cubes
15 cups lightly salted tortilla chips
2 cups grated cheese
2 long red chiles, deseeded and finely chopped, optional
1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Drain the corn and put into a food processor with the scallions, garlic, and semolina. Blitz to a speckled primrose mush; unless you have a big food processor you may have to do this in two batches.
3. Tip this mixture into a large saucepan; add the hot vegetable stock, and bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and let the chowder simmer, partially covered, for 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, spread the tortilla chips out on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet and sprinkle over the cheese. Warm in the hot oven for 5-10 minutes or until cheese melts over the chips.
5. Ladle the soup into bowls and put a small mound of cheese-molten chips into the middle of each bowl. Sprinkle over some of the red chile, if you feel like it, and serve immediately to very grateful people.
Our modifications:
We couldn't find red chiles, so we bought serranos and also roasted some red bell peppers. We pureed the red peppers and added them to the processed corn. KZ wrangled the serranos, and we added them chopped to the mix. I think the serranos added a nice kick!
Using the tortilla chips was actually important with the addition of popcorn to the top of the soup, as we figured the tortilla chips would offer a nice buffer to keep the popcorn from turning to mush so quickly. Plus, it was the perfect opportunity to use the delicious red and green tortilla chips.
The popcorn topping the soup is "Party Popcorn" which will be my next blog entry.
1 comment:
I very much enjoyed this soup. So much so that I tried to replicate it when I was at my parents house after NYE. In my attempt to do so, I came to appreciated CH's attention to detail and willingness to follow instructions a great deal. At some point in the prep process for making this soup, she was like "we have to thaw the corn." To which, I responded "why, it's just going to go into soup pot?" she convinced me that, if noting else, it would be better for her food processor.
When I was at home, I decided I didn't need to thaw the corn and I just pulverized frozen kernels. The result was rather pasty and, though I managed to salvage it, the finished product was far inferior.
In my defense, the soup that is very similar to this that I make instructs you to cook the corn in the broth then remove it, then blend it. I guess I figured since my way allowed for corn to go from freezer to product without thawing, it must be fine. Not true.
Post a Comment