Corn soup for the end of summer

Last week, Jack sent me a scan of a recipe he found in a magazine. It was an end of summer soup created by Wolfgang puck. It sounded really yummy, so we made it for dinner last night. The weather has been cool and fall-like, so soup sounded nice...but it still had the summery taste of sweet corn, because we're not quite ready to let go yet. We enjoyed this with unfiltered wheat beer, hot rolls and open windows.

I put my notes in bold type...

Corn and Bacon Soup with Jalapeño Crema

10 medium ears of corn, shucked
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 oz. lean bacon, finely diced (1/2 cup)
1 celery rib, finely diced
1/2 cup onion, finely diced
1/2 cup yellow bell pepper, finely diced
3 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Kosher salt
Pinch Cayenne pepper
1/4 cup sour cream
1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
2 tbsp chopped cilantro, plus cilantro leaves, for garnish
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
Freshly ground white pepper

Set box grater in wide, shallow bowl, coarsely grate 6 ears corn to make 2 cups grated corn instead of grating the corn, we but the kernels into the food processor. Cut kernels from remaining 4 ears to make 2 cups of kernels. In large saucepan, heat 1 tbsp live oil. Add bacon, celery, onion, yellow pepper; cover and cook over low heat, stirring a few times until softened, about 10 minutes. Add grated corn, milk, 1 cup heavy cream; bring to boil we used fat free half and half instead of the cream, a substitution we have made in several applications with success. It didn't work out so well for this soup, however, as it kind of separated. We fixed it by adding a little bit of real cream, and blending all of the soup up with a stick blender. Reduce heat to moderately low and simmer, stirring often, until soup is thickened, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and cayenne pepper, keep warm.

In large skillet, heat remaining 2 tbsp olive oil until shimmering. Add corn kernels to skillet; cook over moderately high heat, stirring a few times, until lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Season with salt. Stir cooked corn kernels into soup; keep warm.

To create jalapeño crema, whip remaining 1/2 cup of heavy cream to soft peaks in blender, about 20 seconds I forgot to pick up sour cream at the store, so we just whipped more cream and added more lemon juice. Add sour cream, jalapeño, chopped cilantro, lemon juice, and blend until thick. Season with salt and white pepper. Ladle soup into bowls, top with spoonfuls of jalapeño crema and cilantro leaves; serve at once. Serves 6.



I think we'll be making this again. Next time with perhaps more bacon, and more cayenne. Jack thought it might be better suited as a sauce. Perhaps with seared scallops and a jalapeño oil instead of crema. Yum!