This months Kosher Connection Link-Up was a big challenge for me! We were asked to make cold soups and that is one thing I never ever make. My husband loves gazpacho but it is certainly a rare treat for him since I’m the bad wife that never makes him one of his favorite treats. Okay, I’m not really a bad wife since he gets to try all of my fun kitchen experiments but still, how have I not made him cold soup yet?!? Since I don’t really like gazpacho, I thought I would go in a different direction and try something creamy with fresh corn since I looooove sweet corn in the summer. I just learned about a cold soup that totally inspired me called Vichyssoise, which is a thick soup traditionally made of with leeks, onions, potatoes, cream, and chicken stock.I put a twist on it by making a vegetable stock with the husks of the corn and used creamy coconut milk instead of heavy cream. So delicious! I actually love this soup hot and cold, but the chilled version is so refreshing on a hot New York summer day.
Sweet Corn Vichyssoise
makes 5-6 cups
6 fresh ears of sweet corn
4 cups vegetable stock
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
4 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp cumin
1 1/2 cups chopped leeks (2 medium leeks), white and light green part only
1 1/2 cups sliced onions
1 1/2 cups diced peeled potatoes
1/2 cup coconut milk
I sliced the raw corn kernels off of the cob with a sharp serrated knife and set the corn aside for later. If you have trouble keeping the corn steady while slicing, use a bundt pan! Just place the tip of the cob in the center hole of the bundt pan and hold it stead while you slice off the kernels.
I placed the cobs in a large pot with the vegetable stock, salt and pepper and brought the mixture to a boil over high heat. I lowered the temperature to medium-low and simmered the corn and stock for 30 minutes.
I discarded the cooked cobs and set aside the corn infused vegetable stock for later use.
In the same large pot where I boiled the stock, I melted the butter and added the corn kernels, leeks, onions, potatoes and cumin.
I cooked the vegetables, stirring occasionally, until soft, around 10 minutes. I added the corn broth and simmered the mixture for 30 minutes.
Once the soup was cooked, I took it off the stove to cool for a few minutes.
You can eat the soup hot at this point if you are more into hot soup, but for the cold version, I blended the soup with a hand blender (or in a blender) until smooth. There will still be some chunks in the soup but that’s okays since the next step is to strain the soup through a fine mesh sieve.
This step takes a bit of time since the soup is very thick but it is worth every minute for the smooth and silky soup that comes out of it. If your soup is too thick, you can add a bit more vegetable stock and blend again before straining. I got 4+ cups of smooth corn soup from the strained cooked soup.
I chilled the strained soup for an hour then stirred in the coconut milk. If you don’t like coconut milk, you can replace it with buttermilk.
I topped the soup with sour cream and cilantro and served!
kitchen-tested.com
Yields 4-6
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