A pureed vegetable soup may make a stunning, simple, and inexpensive starter for a formal dinner or even serve as a light meal on its own with salad and bread.
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 6 to 7 cups |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 ½ pounds frozen corn, thawed and drained
- 1 large onion, cut into large dice
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 pinch sugar
- 3 large garlic cloves, thickly sliced
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 3 cups chicken broth, homemade or from a carton or can
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 ½ cups half-and-half (or whole milk)
- Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- Garnish: corn chips and chopped tomato
Instructions
- Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large, deep saute pan until shimmering.
- Add frozen corn, then onion; saute, stirring very little at first, then more frequently, until vegetables start to turn golden brown, 7 to 8 minutes.
- Reduce heat to low and add butter, sugar and garlic; continue cooking until all vegetables are a rich spotty caramel color, about 10 minutes longer.
- Add cumin and cayenne pepper; continue to saute until fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute longer.
- Add broth; bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered, until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.
- Using an immersion blender or traditional blender, puree (adding fresh cilantro) until very smooth, 30 seconds to 1 minute. (If using a traditional blender, vent it either by removing the lid’s pop-out center or by lifting one edge of the lid. Drape the blender canister with a kitchen towel. To ‘clean’ the canister, pour in a little half-and-half, blend briefly, then add to the soup.) Strain through a colander (the corn kernels don’t puree).
- Return to pan (or a soup pot); add enough half-and-half so the mixture is souplike, yet thick enough to float garnish. Taste, and add salt and pepper if needed. Heat through, ladle into bowls, garnish and serve.
- Copyright 2004 USA WEEKEND and columnist Pam Anderson. All rights reserved.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 190 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 23 g |
| Cholesterol | 21 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 34 mg |
| Sugars | 4 g |
| Fat | 11 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Easy and quick. I had some canned corn that was near the end of it’s shelf life and searched for a corn soup recipe that I could make with ingredients I had on hand. I substituted 2 cans of creamed corn and two cans of regular corn for the fresh (this also cut down on prep time), 1/4 cup of dried cilantro instead of fresh and added a few extra cloves of garlic. I omitted the sugar as creamed corn is on the sweet side. I only used about 1 cup of half and half (fat free) and also garnished with bacon bits. This recipe would be good with potatoes added, as well. Note: i just used an immersion blender and did not strain. My family didn’t have any issues with the texture.
Very tasty and easy. I found the straining to work okay with my “spider”-type utensil (its got a grid of about 1/4″) – don’t use fine mesh strainer! Soup still had a tad bit of texture, but most of the skin from the kernels was removed. It definitely doesn’t make 8 servings! I’d cut the recipe in half and didn’t need to, because I only ended up with 2 small servings!
Good soup. I cut back on the fat by replacing the half and half with 2% milk, added a couple of spoonfuls of non-fat plain Greek yogurt for creaminess as well as protein, and some diced potatoes for texture. The soup came out smooth, delicious and velvety. For those having trouble straining it, you have to puree it for awhile, at least 2 minutes, to get the right consistency.
Not terrible, but not great. It was impossible to strain through my colander, so I ended up with the kernels in the soup. The flavor was a tad bland for me, needed something more. I feel like I wasted alot of corn for nothing. Husband like it okay, and said at least it was something new to try.
My 5 yo declared “I didn’t know soup could be so good!”. This is a keeper. Thanks Chef.
Easy and delicious!
Easy, cheap, healthy!!!!! AWESOME. I also added carrots and potatoes! Thank you for the submission.
This was a very good soup. I loved the combination of the creamy corn with cumin! I made 4x the soup. I used cans – and 1/2 the cans were regular corn and 1/2 were creamed corn. Next time I will only use creamed corn, and then after I puree the whole thing, I will add one can of regular corn – just so that some whole kernels will stay intact and make it look nice. I did not use half and half. After I pureed the soup with my hand blender, I did not strain it – too much work. I am sure it would have a very nice texture that way though – but I didn’t have time to do that. At first I did not like the corn skins that made the soup very course and not smooth, but then I got used ti it – I really like this soup now!
BEST MEXICAN CORN SOUP EVER! I used Chipotle Chile ground for the spice and upped it to about 1 tsp (or maybe more- we like it hot here in Santa Fe. I also upped the garlic. I also changed the 1/2 & 1/2 to Soy 1/2 & 1/2 which tasted great with a lot less fat content. I did not strain – it is fine with the little bit of roughage in the soup – gives it more body.
Great as a starter but it’s not something you would enjoy if you had more than one serving. I would not make again but thanks for sharing recipe.
I omitted the onions (since my husband doesn’t eat them). I used whole milk instead of half and half. This recipe turned out wonderfully. I blended it in a blender but did not strain it. I prefered the chunkier texture. Next time I will add more broth to make it a little thinner.
excellent soup! i used a lot of extra seasonings and a little more milk than called for, with great results.
Delicious soup! I definately prefer it not strained, it depends on your liking to the texture.
Yum! Don`t bother straining, just blend well. No need for the sugar. And the tomatoes are a great addition.
Great flavored soup but I gave up on straining it because I think the holes were too small in my mesh strainer.
This soup has a great blend of flavors, although it only makes about 4 bowls. Next time I will use a two pound bag of corn and cut the half and half back to a cup. It doesn’t need all that cream or the calories. Also, you must strain the soup. It makes a big difference in the texture.