CORN AND GREEN CHILE CHOWDER

CORN AND GREEN CHILE CHOWDER image

Categories Corn

Number Of Ingredients 20

Ingredients

4 Hatch or Anaheim chiles
6 ears corn, shucked or 4 cups corn kernels
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 small yellow onion, diced (1/2 cup)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Pinch cayenne pepper
Pinch ground nutmeg
3 C corn broth (recipe below) or chicken broth
1/2 cup half and half
1/4 cup buttermilk
Salt
Pepper
Crumbled queso fresco or feta, for garnishing
1 lime cut into slices, for serving
Ingredients for the corn broth:
4 corncobs, kernels removed
1/2 small yellow onion
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Steps:

Roast and peel chiles, cut into thin, inchÂlong strips. To make the soup, in a 3Âquart pot melt 1 tablespoon of the butter on mediumÂlow heat. Add the onions, cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 more seconds. Turn off the heat and transfer the onions and garlic to a blender. Add to the blender 3 cups of the corn kernels (reserving the remaining 1 cup), cumin, cayenne, nutmeg, and 2 cups of broth. Blend until smooth, which depending on your blender can take anywhere from 30 seconds to 4 minutes. If the corn is tough, it might never get velvety smooth. If thatâs the case, you can either leave it a little lumpy or strain the puree through a mesh strainer. Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter in the pot on mediumÂlow heat and pour in the corn puree. Cook for 2 minutes while occasionally stirring, then add the final 1 cup of broth, the reserved 1 cup of corn, the green chiles, the half and half, and the buttermilk. Cook for 3Â5 more minutes or until the soup is warm and the corn is tender. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm topped with queso fresco and with limes on the side for additional flavor, if desired. Alternatively, you can refrigerate the soup for at least 4 hours, and enjoy it chilled To make the corn broth, take 4 of the cobs (discarding the rest), and one at a time, stand each cob upright in a 3Âquart pot and run the flat side of a knife down the cob to extract all the corn milk. Once youâve done that for all the cobs, lay the cobs in the pot along with the onion, bay leaf, and salt. Pour in 4 cups of water, bring to a boil, then simmer on low for 20 minutes, and then turn off the heat and strain the broth. You should have about 3 cups. If you have more than that, you can either reduce it or save it for another use. If you have less than 3 cups, just add water until you have that amount.