2000s Recipes + Menus

Creamy Corn Soup with Roasted Red-Pepper Sauce

Serves6
  • Active time:35 min
  • Start to finish:35 min
ADAPTED FROM DIANE CARLSON, THE CONSCIOUS GOURMET CULINARY RETREAT, SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO, AND ANNEMARIE COLBIN
May 2008
Don’t be turned off because this soup is actually good for you. The secret to the silky texture of this soup is oatmeal. Rolled oats have their own starch and give body and creaminess when blended, adding extra fiber to your diet as well.

For red-pepper sauce

  • 2 red bell peppers (1 lb total)
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon hot sauce, or to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

For soup

  • 4 ears of corn
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 5 cups water
  • 1/4 cup rolled oats
  • 2 teaspoons fine sea salt

  • Garnish:

    chopped flat-leaf parsley or cilantro

Roast peppers for sauce:

  • Roast peppers on racks of gas burners on high, turning with tongs, until skins are blackened all over, 10 to 12 minutes. (Or broil peppers on rack of a broiler pan 5 inches from heat, turning occasionally, about 15 minutes.) Transfer to a bowl and let stand, covered, 10 minutes.

Make soup while peppers roast and stand:

  • Cut kernels off cobs, then scrape cobs with knife to extract “milk.”
  • Cook onion in oil in a heavy medium pot over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 5 minutes. Add corn with its “milk,” water, oats, and sea salt and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes.

Finish red-pepper sauce while soup simmers:

  • Peel peppers (do not rinse), then halve lengthwise, discarding stems and seeds.
  • Purée peppers in a blender with oil, lemon juice, hot sauce, sea salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper until very smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Season with hot sauce and salt, then transfer to a bowl.

Finish soup:

  • Purée soup in 2 to 3 batches in cleaned blender until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids), then strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl if desired. Reheat soup if necessary, then season with salt.
  • Serve soup drizzled with some red-pepper sauce and serve remaining sauce on the side or reserve for another use.
Cooks’ note: Soup and sauce keep separately, covered and chilled, 3 days.

Photograph by Romulo Yanes

Keywords
vegetarian,
web-exclusive recipes,
soup,
diane carlson,
annemarie colbin

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