Dinner Tonight: Creamy Corn Soup with Roasted Poblano Chile
Comforting as ever, corn chowder is a food for the fall as the weather gets cooler. And though it's easy enough to make a delicious corn chowder with lots of heavy cream and flour, I was more interested to see how this recipe—more of a soup than a chowder—from Rick Bayless would turn out. Instead of cream and flour, it's thickened with corn starch and the starch from the puréed corn kernels. It works—while the recipe is made with just milk, it has the silky mouthfeel of something with a lot more fat in it.
The Mexican twist here is also interesting, which is the addition of roasted poblano chiles. They pair well with the relatively bland taste of creamy corn, adding some needed kick and smokiness. To make this a full meal, Bayless calls for cubes of chicken breast or shrimp; I used some leftover shredded chicken and it worked wonderfully. And though Bayless doesn't mention it at all, I couldn't help but eat it next to buttered, freshly baked cornbread.
About the author: Blake Royer founded The Paupered Chef with Nick Kindelsperger, where he writes about food and occasional travels. After a year in Estonia, he's now living in Chicago.
Creamy Corn Soup
- serves 4 -
Adapted from Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless.
Ingredients
1 large fresh poblano chile
1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil
1 small white onion, sliced 1/4-inch thick
2 cloves garlic, peeled
3 cups corn kernels, cut from about 5 cobs or frozen
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 quart milk
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, or about 3/4 pound leftover chicken
Salt to taste
Cilantro for garnish
Avocado pieces (optional)
Procedure
1. Roast the poblano directly on the open flame of a stovetop or under a broiler until charred and blackened all over, 5-10 minutes depending on method. Transfer to a bowl and cover with a kitchen towel until cool enough to handle.
2. In the meantime, heat the oil over medium heat in a 3-quart saucepan and add the garlic and onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden. Transfer to a food processor along with the corn, cornstarch, and 1 1/2 cups of the milk. Process into a purée and transfer back to the saucepan, straining out the corn kernel skins if desired. Bring to a simmer, whisking frequently.
3. When the chile is cooled somewhat, rub off the blackened skins, pull out the stem and seeds, and rinse to complete the job. Cut into 1/4-inch strips or pieces, then stir into the simmering soup along with the chicken and remaining milk. Simmer until the chicken is cooked through, if necessary, stirring as you go. Serve with sprinkled cilantro and avocado, if desired.
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12 Comments:
Is that cornbread in the photo top-right? Looks nummy too
hungrychristel at 5:11PM on 11/05/09
The addition of the poblano sounds great. Funny enough, for lunch I had some Roast Corn and Pepper soup from Trader Joe's (comes in one of those carton type containers), just looked at the ingredients, Poblano peppers as well, in fact probably pretty similar to this recipe.
Burger365 at 5:39PM on 11/05/09
My grocery store doesn't sell poblanos -- could I use chipotles?
piccola at 9:17PM on 11/05/09
Chipotles are smoked and dried while pobalanos are fresh so I don't think you'd get the same effect, though I'm sure it would be quite tasty. I would think fresh jalapenos would be a more appropriate substitution than chipotles.
RegrettableFoodie at 9:54PM on 11/05/09
Chipotles would add a nice smokey heat while Jalapenos would have a very distinctive flavor with a decent amount of heat. I would lean towards using small increments of chipotles since it would be easy for the heat to get away from you compared to poblanos!
jareddee at 11:18PM on 11/05/09
@piccola Where do you live? Here in California almost always Poblanos are labeled as Pasilla. So you may be in luck.
Burger365 at 10:40AM on 11/06/09
When recipes say "milk" do you assume only whole milk is acceptable? Or do you think I can get away with 1% or 2%? Or substitute 1/2 the milk with stock? Or am I just really killing this delicious sounding recipe?!
mookie at 11:46AM on 11/06/09
@piccola Chipotle chilis would give this a whole different flavor and a lot more spiciness, but it might be brilliant. But careful, they can be spicy.
Poblanos are a pretty mild chile, almost as large as bell peppers, and while jalapenos would be similar in taste, it would be a big hassle to char, skin, deseed, and chop them all up.
They important thing is to use fresh chilis rather than dried, unless you're going the chipotles in adobo route, in which case you wouldn't roast them beforehand.
@mookie I used whole milk, but I supposed you could get away with a 2% or using some stock while sacrificing a little mouth feel. Maybe experiment with using a little more cornstarch, and keep tasting until it is thick enough to your liking.
Blake Royer at 12:04PM on 11/06/09
Ah, this sounds wonderful!
Stushi at 3:31PM on 11/06/09
This soup was wonderful! We made it with half 1% and half 2% milk which turned out just fine. The leftovers are just as good as the day it was made. This will definitely go into regular rotation!
Katie A at 7:21PM on 11/08/09
I made this tonight with frozen corn but doubled the poblano, omitted the chicken and used a pint of homemade veggie stock in place of half the milk. (I'd excavated a bag of ancient CSA poblanos from my freezer and roasted them recently, so what the hell.) Really delicious, especially served with grilled cheddar-and-avocado sandwiches.
everybodyever at 3:47AM on 11/10/09
When this was posted, I put it in the "to make immediately" file because a) corn chowder is my faaaavorite fall/winter comfort food, and b) I've been trying to reproduce the "sopa de elote" at the Mexican Food Factory restaurant in Marlton, NJ. (I'm writing that on the off chance that someone reads this who knows the soup I'm referring to and is able to help in my quest). In making this soup, I upped the amount of corn and onion for a thicker texture. I also added chili powder for a hint of smoky flavor. The results were great, especially garnished with queso fresco and a dollop of sour cream. It's the closest I've come to that restaurant dish. I'll definitely be adding this to the rotation! Thanks for posting.
unpocojmoney at 8:54AM on 11/18/09