Monday, December 23, 2019

Sunday Soup #95: Corn Soup with Chipotle Sour Cream

A second dinner engagement this past weekend led me to search out a soup that could be paired with a nice, slow-cooked pork loin, seasoned to perfection by a masterful grill cook. The majority of soups I choose are not intended to be a side dish, served as a complement to a more substantial main course. However, this week's selection seemed like it would work equally well as a vegetarian main dish or (in smaller portions) alongside the meatier main course, which is what I prepared it for, this weekend.

This recipe came from: https://www.littlethings.com/fall-soup-recipes/14 (go to recipe #14 on the webpage)



Variations from Recipe as Written: I doubled the recipe, and I puréed the soup using an immersion blender (more on this later). That's it!

General Thoughts: Both the prep and the cooking on this one were pretty simple, making this soup an ideal choice for a weekday night meal or quick dinner party side dish. The onion and chipotle peppers needed to be chopped, but that was about it. You could use fresh corn cut off the cob if you desired (I used bagged frozen kernels), but that would certainly take a larger time investment on your part. Cooking was also a snap, as it took less than 20 minutes total on the stove to finish this one up!



*Pics 2 & 3 - Pictures from when I made it

The soup shown in the picture from the website is a bit lighter (whiter?) than mine looked when I made it, but I may have been able to achieve the same color using white corn instead of yellow. They were also a bit more artful with their sour cream/adobo swirls on top, but (*shrug*) I'm just a dude, not a professional food stager, and I think mine came out looking okay. :-) So, what did it taste like?

It was yummy! The supporting flavors, such as all the spices, the garlic, and the lime juice, shined through and were (surprisingly) not completely dominated by the corn flavor. This was an important thing for me, as too many corn soups are so corn-forward that you might as well just be eating creamed corn (read: BORING!). It was even better when I dolloped the chipotle-sour cream mixture into my bowl, resulting in a creamy, spicy, interesting corn soup that went very well with my host's southwest-spiced pork loin. (*If you aren't so keen on spicy food, you might want to stick with plain sour cream rather than the chipotle mixture; however, that would be cutting out a key ingredient, so maybe just lighten up on the chipotle a little.)

A quick note about the consistency of the soup... The recipe instructed, "Working in batches, purée soup in blender until smooth." I was going for speed, so I used an immersion blender dropped straight into the pot on the stove. In hindsight, I think that was a mistake, as the soup was not quite as smooth as I would have liked.

Potential Improvements? When I make this one again, the only thing I'd do differently is purée it in a highspeed blender to give it a smoother texture.

Polling the Fam: I liked this one and thought it was perfectly suited as a side dish for this meal. I'd have given this soup 3.5 stars as a main course, and 4.5 stars as the side dish it was, so 4 stars seemed perfect overall! I did not get specific reactions from all of the other diners, but several mentioned that they enjoyed it and everyone seemed fairly happy with it overall, so I'll call that a win!

Verdict: Liked it. (4 stars)

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