My first recipe post! I served this at a dinner party this weekend and people were GUSHING about how much they loved it. Easy, and so cheap!
Adapted from: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ingrid-hoffmann/mexican-corn-soup-recipe.htmlName of Recipe: Mexican Corn SoupNumber of People:4Ingredients:3 cups frozen, thawed corn kernels
2 medium tomatoes
1-2 chipotle peppers with ~1 tbsp adobe sauce
~1L chicken stock
1 teaspoon ground Mexican oregano (regular oregano works)
4 slices thick cut bacon
1/2 onion
4 cloves garlic
~1 tbsp vegetable oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream, (optional)
3 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup queso fresco/cotijo (the soft mexican crumbly cheese, VERY similar to feta)
Preparation:1 Place half of the corn kernels in blender with tomatoes, chipotle pepper, oregano, and half the stock in bowl. Puree speed 8 15 sec. Set aside.
2. Cook bacon in a skillet until brown and crisp, about 10 minutes. Don’t throw away the fat, but drain bacon on a paper towel lined plate. Once cool, crumble the bacon up. Set aside.
3. Chop onion and garlic for 5 sec speed 5. Scrape down. Add
bacon fat (trust me), if needed add a bit more vegetable oil to make ~2 tbsp fat total. Sauté 8 min varoma temp speed 2, MC off.
4. Add tomato-corn puree to bowl with remaining half of stock. Cook temp 100 speed 1.5 until bowl reaches 100 (5-10 min for me), then add remaining corn kernels.
5. Simmer 90-100 degrees speed 1.5, MC off, for 20 min until thickened. Stop halfway through (and again at the end) and remove any foam with a large flat metal spoon.
6. Add salt, pepper, cream, and half of the parsley. Mix 10 sec speed 2.
7. Serve, garnished with crumbled bacon, remaining parsley, crumbled cheese, and/or broken up tortilla chips
Photos:Tips/Hints:I had the chipotle peppers, mexican oregano and queso because I was serving a whole Mexican meal and it was worth the trip to the Mexican grocery store. If you don't have the peppers you could easily use a jalapeño or chilli, but wouldn't have the same smokey flavour.
I didn't end up using the whole amount of cream because it already has a lovely creamy texture.
As far as a heat rating goes - with 1 chipotle pepper it's really very mild, 2 or 3 and it's getting on the spicy side. It also depends how much of the adobe sauce you add. Note- adding the optional cream counteracts the spice somewhat so keep that in mind.
Also, I was lazier last time and just fried the garlic and onions (in the TM of course), and then dumped in the tomatoes and 1/2 the corn and 1/2 the broth and the spices and puréed. Then added remaining broth, heated to 100 and added the last of the corn. Saved a bowl not having to transfer the tomato corn purée out and back in again. Made no difference!
