Corn Soup

Just when I thought I couldn't eat another bite of corn, no matter how good, I came across Martha Stewart's recipe in Food Everyday for Creamy Corn Soup in my quest for a basic corn chowder recipe.  Martha's recipe only has three ingredients besides water (corn, salt, butter), which was fine.  However, I had more than just fresh corn to dispense with this week: from Pinckney's I got four ears of corn, a pound of pink-eyed peas (which are like black-eyed peas, only different), two tomatoes, a couple of bell peppers and some beets (still undecided as to what I'll do with them). 

I also discovered, when I went out to water my herb and vegetable garden for the first time in at least a week (we got enough rainfall in between that I didn't have to), that I had one tomato, four peppers (including the one pictured below) and one oversized zucchini that were all ready for harvest. 

The tomato I used in the soup last night, and the fate of the other items will be decided tonight after work.

Here's how I made the soup:
4 cups water
2 tsp salt
1 lb pink-eyed peas, rinsed well and sorted
4 ears fresh corn, baked and husked
1 small tomato, peeled and diced
2 tsp frozen chopped cilantro  (use 2 tbsp if fresh)
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Bring 4 cups of water to a boil (at this point I dunked the tomato long enough to loosen the skin), add salt and pink-eyed peas.  Lower heat to medium and simmer, covered, about 25 minutes or until tender.

Meanwhile, cut the corn off the cob with a serrated knife.  Add corn and diced tomato to blender and puree until smooth.

Once beans have cooked, skim off any starch (bubbly white stuff) on the surface and add corn/tomato puree, cilantro and cayenne pepper.  Simmer, stirring occasionally, until bubbly (another 5-10 minutes).

This turned out a little thinner than I'd hoped.  Next time, I may add another chopped veggie or only use two cups of water with the beans and add more as needed.  But it tasted good, and the fresh corn provided the dominant flavor despite all the other stuff I added that Martha never mentioned in her recipe.  Perhaps if I get more corn this week, I'll make "polenta"-stuffed peppers using pureed corn?...

Vegetable soup

OK, I'm gonna say it - this was nothing special; just a use-stuff-up recipe.  I still had most of the potatoes, corn, pink-eyed peas, tomatoes and banana peppers that I received in my most recent Pinckney's stash before Thursday rolled around - and I wanted to ensure that I had something vegetarian for myself on the days when I didn't want any meat or dairy.

2 tbsp canola oil
3 mild banana peppers, gutted and diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
6 cups vegetable broth
1 lb fresh pink-eyed peas, rinsed
4 new potatoes, peeled and diced
1 ear of corn, cooked
2 large tomatoes, peeled and diced
1 branch fresh rosemary
1 branch fresh thyme
6 basil leaves, torn
pepper to taste

In an 8 qt pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the banana peppers and saute until softened, about 3-5 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring broth to a boil in a separate pot. Once it has boiled, add to the pot with the peppers along with the peas and diced potatoes. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.

Remove the husk from the corn and cut the corn off the cob with a serrated knife. Add corn, tomatoes and herbs to the pot, cover and simmer another 30 minutes. Check seasoning and add pepper to taste.

If I make this again, I might make it heartier by using less broth.  (Chris Rock: 'cuz I sho' is hungry!)  Since the potatoes were diced, less liquid was needed to soften them up.  One pleasant surprise, was that most of the thyme fell off the branches while the soup cooked, so when I finally had some on Tuesday, I just had to fish the thyme and rosemary out of the pot and toss them in the compost bin, and the rest I packed up as leftovers.