Chilled corn bisque

After even just one day of this dental diet, I have learned a number of things. I have learned why it is that people lose a lot of weight on liquid diets: First of all, unless you turn to ice cream, it is just plain hard to consume a normal number of calories from unchewable sources. Second of all, liquid foods are really uninspiring as a sole food source. I suppose if I had gone the milkshake route, I would have done okay, but that brings me to the third thing I learned, which is that I really don't have much of a sweet tooth at all. And finally, I have learned that there are very few things indeed that are savory and cold and good that do not require chewing. I was never much of a fan of cold soups before, but I am changing my ways but quick.

Today I made a corn bisque that turned out well, cribbing ideas from Chez Panisse Vegetables and Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and then improvising on the basis of what seemed good at the time. Hot, I think it would seem a bit oppressive for summer (though maybe not the kind of drizzly summer we've been having around here so far this year), but cold, it is suave and elegant but not at all prissy. It is surprisingly rich and creamy tasting for something that contains no actual cream. If you went so far as to use half and half instead of the whole milk, you would probably have a little seizure of decadence. Enjoy at your own risk.

1 medium onion or 5-6 scallions
3 fat cloves of garlic
1 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 small waxy or all purpose potato, such as a Yukon Gold or Yellow Finn
2 cups vegetable broth
3 cups corn, frozen or fresh
1 cup whole milk (or some combination of milk and half and half, as you see fit)
1 tsp or so paprika
Salt to taste
Sugar (optional) to taste

Peel and finely chop the onions and garlic, and stew slowly in the olive oil with 1/4 cup water over medium-low heat, covered, until the onion is translucent. Add the thyme and bay leaf and stew for 3-4 minutes more.

Grate the potato coarsely, skin and all, and add to the pot. Work quickly so that the potato does not have time to discolor. Add another 1/4 cup of water, cover, and stew for another 2 or 3 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Add vegetable broth and corn. Turn up the heat to high and bring to a boil, uncovered. When it is boiling vigorously, turn off the heat and cover. Let rest for at least 3 minutes.

Remove the bay leaf and puree the soup very thoroughly. My immersion blender has died, but I have a nice Osterizer. Using that, I pureed the soup in two batches, giving each batch about 2 or 3 full minutes at puree. Return the pureed soup to the pot. Add milk and paprika. Bring back to the boil and adjust the salt to taste. If you used frozen corn, like I did, you may want to add a few generous pinches of sugar, too (or more!). Let cool to room temperature and then transfer to the refrigerator to chill. It will thicken quite a bit as it chills; you can always thin it with more milk if it gets too thick for your taste.

Posted by redfox at June 19, 2003 02:06 PM (recipes)

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