Friday, September 2, 2011

Summery Corn Soup

Yum!  This week's French Fridays With Dorie is Corn Soup.  The verdict:  LOVE.  The bright, fresh taste of this soup makes it a great way to highlight fresh-from-the-field corn.

I didn't have field-fresh corn, but the corn at Publix was on sale and really good this week.  Hooray!

My children kept walking by the bowl of fresh corn kernels and snatching some.  They were amazed at how sweet and tasty raw corn is.

The soup cooks with the cobs in it!  I've never done this before, but it must make the soup even corn-ier.  It looked absolutely beautiful simmering in the pot.  After cooking, the cobs are removed and the soup pureed.  Hooray for immersion blenders!

Finished and plated with just a little bacon and some extra corn kernels.  (I had to hide my little stash from the kids while the soup was cooking.)

The verdict:  Bill and I loved it.  D, the youngest, ate two bowls.  The other three kids ate it but weren't crazy about it.  I do think they prefer chunkier soups to pureed ones.  Next time I might leave it chunky and add ham or shrimp to make it more of a full meal soup for the kids, and then they would eat it.

I usually make corn chowder in the winter, using potatoes and cheese.  This version, missing those two ingredients, is very light and clean-tasting.  We will be making it again!

14 comments:

Cher Rockwell said...

Cooking with cobs was totally a new one for me too. But I guess it makes sense.
Glad this was a hit for you.

Candy said...

I've found the corn at my grocery store to be better than what I have found at the farmer's market this year. I make a corn chowder using potatoes and cheese too, but found this to be a lovely alternative for summer.

Your soup looks delicious!

Frankly Entertaining said...

I am also in love with my immersion blender! I think it makes cooking so much easier, and so much cleaner! Glad your house enjoyed the soup!

Anonymous said...

How nice for your kids! I think I would have liked mine a bit chunkier too, each bowl just leaves me hungrier for more! I had never put the cobs in the soup either and I LOVED doing it, I think I'm totally going to do that the next time I make corn soup.... or any kind of soup for that matter!

Anonymous said...

I had to force myself to stop eating the raw corn. was concerend there would be none left. immersion blender! what did I do before you? Looks great!

Anonymous said...

Great looking soup!
I have to agree with you about the immersion blenders! They really are great.
It's always good when the kids enjoy it!

Ei said...

I'm glad everyone liked or loved it! I, too, agree about immersion blenders. Best kitchen gadget I've bought in a loooong time.

Tammy said...

I had to keep my OWN hand out of the bowl of kernels! They are so good raw!!

Adriana said...

My husband wanted me to keep our version chunkier. I also didn't have access to fresh-from-the-stand corn but got decent ears from the supermarket. Ham would be great with it!

Christy said...

We argued over the leftovers! I think that it was a great soup, and the flavor of the corn was highligted to perfection.

Betsy said...

I agree this was very light and fresh tasting. I loved how it tasted of pure corn flavor, the essence of summer.

Anonymous said...

This was my first time making corn soup. We liked it too but I think the herb flavours were too strong for the kids.

Anonymous said...

I'm in the immersion blender fan club, too. I look over at the conventional blender and can only think about how much cleanup using it will cause.

I really liked the saltiness of the bacon with the sweetness of the soup. I think ham or shrimp (or any of Dorie's bonne idée suggestions) would be great with the soup, too.

Kathy said...

I had never heard of cooking the cobs but it did add a lot of flavor to the milk. Your soup looks lovely! glad you all enjoyed it!