Fresh Corn Soup

I love Corn.  I love corn on the cob, off the cob, creamed corn, corn chowder, corn dip, corn salad... anything you can think of that involves corn.  This one appealed to me because it said it was a creamy corn soup using fresh corn, and no dairy.  So I gave it a shot.  I even doubled the recipe anticipating it would be good and I would want to freeze some of it to save for the winter when I crave fresh corn things.

And it was good.  Great in fact.  It is think and creamy, but not like a dairy cream soup if that makes any sense.  One thing to note though.. it takes a while to make. Most soups need to simmer for a while, but this one seemed to have a lot of hands on time rather than get it all ready and just let it simmer.  I'm glad I made a double batch because I think this is a once a year type of recipe because of the hands on time involved.  This definitely isn't a weeknight quick and easy meal, but it IS worth it.

***I forgot to take a picture of ingredients - pretty much all veggies :) ***

No Dairy Creamy Fresh Corn Soup
From: We are not Martha
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 hr 30 min

Ingredients:
5-6 large ears of fresh sweet corn, shucked
Kosher salt
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 - 3/4 cup diced onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 medium red potato, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
Fresh black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 jalapeno, chopped (not in original recipe, I added it)
Optional Garnish: chopped tomato, sour cream, basil


Directions:
1. Cut corn off cob into a large bowl.  Don't cut to close to the cob.

2. In a separate bowl take the cobs you just cut kernels off and scrape as much off the cob as you can, extracting all the "milk" and solids possible.  I used the back of a butter knife and it worked really well.

3. Break cobs in half and put them in a pot with 6 cups of water and 1 tsp salt.  bring to a boil over high heat and then reduce to medium low, cover, and simmer for about 30 min.

4. Once done cooking, throw away cobs, but save liquids in a separate bowl and set aside.

5. Put the pot back over medium-high heat and add oil.  Saute onion in the oil for about 3 minutes, until translucent. Then add garlic and cook for another minute.

6.  Turn heat down to medium and add celery (I also added 1/2 a jalapeno chopped at this point).  Cover the pot and continue to cook, making sure to stir occasionally for about 5 minutes, until vegetables soften.

7.  Add the potatoes, pepper, and cayenne.  Stir.  Pour in corn stock.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then cover and lower heat to medium low.  Simmer for about 20-30 minutes, unitl vegetables are softened enough to puree.

8.  Add all of the corn kernels except 1 cup. Simmer for another 10 minutes.

9. Puree the soup using immersion blender. Taste it.  Add more salt or pepper if needed. 

10. Add the rest of the corn and the corn 'milk.'  Simmer for another 5 minutes.

11.  Serve warm with as many toppings as you choose (I added chopped tomatoes, basil, and sour cream, and one night even added chunks of avocado.