Hello everyone! I guess I accidentally took the summer off from FFWD. The summer included fun vacations, our first season of pastries and breads at the local Farmers' Market, watching our mini wheat field grow, and best news of all... learning that we're going to be grandparents! It's the beginning of the school year, and time to start cooking again. This month's recipes look great and will be great fun to share.
Our friends had TWO children get married this summer. One in Rhode Island, and one is NYC. Luckily, Irene threaded the needle between trips and we were able to enjoy the best both cities had to offer. Meals included lobster bisque, rolls, and mac-n-cheese... yum (not all in one meal...)! There are so many great restaurants in New York. After touring the Chelsea Market, we made reservations at Morimoto and enjoyed a feast of sushi and stunning entrees. We had doughnuts at DOUGH in Brooklyn, and Oxtail Ragu in the Meatpacking District. The travels were inspiring as well as tasty!
We've also been enjoying a great growing season with FoxCityFarm, CSA. The box this week
included several ears of perfect sweet corn. Just what I needed for this week's recipe, Corn Soup. It was a very warm day and not exactly a day for eating soup, but what the heck. There was a lot of corn so I made triple batch of soup to freeze for later.
Here's the unpacked CSA box and the gorgeous corn.
The recipe calls for simmering the cobs in milk then combining the infused milk the the sauteed vegetables. Here's the corn and cobs ready for the pots.
This recipe, like many of Dorie's recipes, is simple, yet expert at bringing out the perfect flavors of each ingredient.
The cobs simmer in the milk to add a depth of flavor and texture for this simple soup. Here are the cobs simmering away in the milk. I used 2% milk rather than whole milk. Remember, this is a triple batch. The recipe only calls for three ears of corn...
Once the kernels of corn, and mirepoix have sauteed, the two pots were combined, then pureed to a beautiful velvet consistency. Last year I had the luck of becoming the proud owner of a Vitamix blender. At the time I found it hard to believe that it would really make a big difference. Wrong! The blender sounds like an airplane taking off, and produces flawless results. The corn soup was truly liquid velvet. I garnished with thinly sliced scallions, and a dash of chipotle chili powder for a splash of heat. We had the soup for dinner with tomatoes and crusty bread. Then, the next day I served the soup as an amuse bouche in tiny glasses without garnish. I didn't tell our guests what the soup was, and had them guess. The guesses included celery, leek, and hmmm " I know this flavor so well, but can't place it". The texture was so smooth and silky that the strong presence of corn was hard to place. I would highly recommend this soup as a fall appetizer. I preferred the soup without garnish, and just the dash of chili powder. The best part was Gary's critique of the recipe... "Incredible"
Enjoy!
