VELVET CORN CHOWDER WITH RED PEPPER CREAM

Baby it's cold outside....... I love soups with different flavors drizzled on top! This is a simple soup everyone thinks you slaved over. The spicy red cream sauce packs a punch of color and flavor to this creamy corn chowder. And a few words about corn, I cringe in the produce section or the Farmers Market when I see people pulling apart the protective husks to see if the corn is in straight rows on the cob. WHO CARES?? It isn't staying in a straight row when you cook it. It matters how it tastes, that's all that matters, nothing else matters!!! Fully ripe sweet corn has bright green, moist husks. The silk should be stiff, dark and moist. You should be able to feel individual kernels by pressing gently against the husk. Fresh corn, if possible, should be cooked and served the day it is picked or purchased. As soon as corn is picked, its sugar begins is gradual conversion to starch, which reduces the corn's natural sweetness. Corn will lose 25% or more of its sugar within 25 hours after harvesting it. If for some reason corn is not being used immediately or has been purchased from the supermarket, add sugar to replace that which has been lost. Add one teaspoon sugar for each quart of water. Between purchasing and cooking, keep the corn moist and cool. Pack in a cooler for the trip home from farm or market and refrigerate corn immediately after taking it home. By refrigerating the corn, it helps the corn stay sweet by not letting the sugars turn to starch. Use within two or three days. - From What's Cooking America RED PEPPER CREAM: 2 lg red bell peppers 2 T fresh oregano 1 tsp cayenne pepper 1 T olive oil ½ tsp salt 2 T heavy cream Roast peppers under broiler or over flame until blackened and blistered. Place peppers in bowl and cover for about 10 minutes. Peel away skins, discarding stems and seeds. Chop peppers and place in blender. Add oregano, cayenne, olive oil and salt. Puree the mixture, drizzling the cream in while blending. Transfer to bowl and set aside. CORN CHOWDER: 2 slices bacon, chopped ¼ C. celery, finely diced 1 small yellow onion, finely diced 2 C. chicken broth 4-5 red new potatoes, diced 1½ T. fresh thyme 1 bay leaf Salt and pepper, to taste 2 C. milk, heated 6 ears of corn, remove kernels saving as much juice as possible In a heavy saucepan over med-low heat, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove the bacon and reserve for another use. Increase your temperature and add the celery and onion and saute until translucent. Increase the heat to high and add the chicken broth. Bring to a boil and deglaze the pan, stirring to scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the potatoes, thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper and return to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low and cook until the potatoes are just tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add the milk and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the corn and the juice, simmer until the corn is tender, about 3 to 4 minutes. Serve the soup in individual bowls topping with a spoonful of the red pepper cream. Serves 6-8

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Some Like It Hot......Roasted Poblano Vichyssoise with Lime

Few people realize that Vichyssoise, the cold potato leek soup with the French name, was invented, not in Paris or Lyons or even in Vichy, France, but in New York City at the beginning of the 20th Century.




It was 1917 and the fashionable Ritz-Carlton Hotel on Madison Avenue at 46th Street was about to open a new roof garden restaurant. The head chef was a Frenchman named Louis Diat (1885-1957). He often made a potato and leek soup from a recipe given him by his mother, Annette Alajoinine Diat, and he was preparing to serve it at a party celebrating the opening of the roof garden. Whether, according to legend, the soup, prepared in advance, wasn't re-heated in time to be served as a first course, or whether the day was warm and Chef-de-Cuisine Diat felt culinarily creative, he added cream to his mother's soup recipe and served it cold, sprinkled with chopped chives. He called it Creme Vichyssoise Glacee, or Chilled Cream Vichyssoise, in honor of the town where he was born.


The original Ritz-Carlton has long since been demolished but Vichyssoise lives on.


God Bless the Ritz Carlton and all of the special memories, events and amazing food that came from there.


Mmmmmmm....Vichyssoise, Some of us love it as it is cool and flavourful and creamy, as it should be.  Some of us, such as our son, cannot wrap his head around a cold soup. To him, it just doesn't make sense.  Bless his heart, in the summer he can expect to expand his tastebuds with wonderful soups like Avacado Soup, Cantelope Soup and many many more.  He'll come around, I have faith!


Yesterday was one of those days I just happen to have all the right ingredients on hand, plus, of course, I still have poblanos growing like crazy.  So this was my interpretation of Vichyssoise.

Roasted Poblano Vichyssoise with Lime adapted from a Gourmet Magazine Recipe

1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and small diced
5 C. water
4 med. Leeks, green tops removed, white cut lengthwise and cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 med. onion, diced
1 Tbl unsalted butter
2 tsp kosher salt
2 C. milk
1 C. Heavy Cream

1 C. Half-and-half
4 lg poblano peppers, roasted and charred exterior removed along with stem and seeds, finely sliced into strips
1 C. Sour cream
1/4 C. fresh lime juice, or to taste
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste

Garnish: several thin slices of poblano and halved lime slices to float on top

Place diced potatoes in bowl with water.  In another bowl or vegetable sink, soak leeks in water to cover.  Agitate to remove dirt and sand, drain in colander. Thinly slice leaks.  Add butter to heavy bottom soup pot, on med/low heat, add leeks and onion, cook until wilted, do not carmelize or it will discolor you finished soup.

Add potatoes with water,salt and poblanos, simmer, covered for about 40 minutes, or until potatoes are very soft.   Add milk, cream and half-and-half and bring just to a boil, stirring.


In your amazing food processor (or my crappy one that leaks all over my counters) puree soup in batches.  Return to clean soup pot.  Stir in sour cream and lime juice.




At this point you can serve the soup hot, or you can chill it, covered until very cold and up to 1 day.


Hot or cold, serve soup garnished with remaining poblanos and slices of lime.

Enjoy, Approximately 10 cups.

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