Creamy, 3 Ingredient Corn Soup (a la Japanese corn potage)

This recipe is a very simplified twist on a classic Japanese corn potage. You won't miss the flour or milk. You just need 3 simple ingredients (plus salt) and a blender to make this creamy, naturally sweet, and homey soup.

This recipe is ideal during the summer when fresh corn is in season, complete with green husks and silk strings. But since corn is available year round, this soup works with anything really.

Pair it with dungeness crab pasta, honey garlic brussel sprouts, or quick pan-seared sockeye salmon.

Inspired by the corn potage at Curry House, the now defunct restaurant chain in California, this soup would pair well with Japanese inspired fare such as furikake salmon, addictive sweet soy edamame pods, or a fun hot dog fried rice.

Ingredients

Just three regular ingredients can transform into a stellar, smooth soup. Salt is also used but not counted as one of the ingredients.

• Corn - Fresh sweet corn is preferred for the best flavor. Otherwise, frozen corn would be next in line. In a pinch, you could use drained, canned corn.
• Onion - Use white or yellow onions.
• Butter - Use vegan butter for a dairy free soup.

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

There are 3 parts to making this soup: prepping the vegetables, cooking the soup, and blending the soup. You can do all three steps in one go, or complete each step on separate days when you have time.

Vegetable Prep

If onions make you cry, cut the corn first, so you're not shedding tears from the cut onion.

Trim one end of the corn, so you have a flat bottom to hold the corn upright. Use a paring knife to cut off the kernels as close to the stalk as you can. Use a parchment lined, rimmed baking sheet or pie plate to catch all the kernels.

Cut the onion into a ¼-1/2" dice.

Cook Soup

This will take a good 15-20 minutes to cook, so be prepared to stand by the stove.

Optional: Cover the corn stalks with water to make a homemade corn stock. Bring to a boil, and leave it to simmer, uncovered, while you make the soup in a separate pot.

Put the onion and butter in a pan over medium heat. Sweat the onions for a good 8-12 minutes until they are translucent. Add a pinch of salt to help them sweat (about ⅛ tsp). Lower the heat, if they start to brown.

You don't want the onions to caramelize, but they should be meltingly soft. Cooking them this long coaxes out their sugar and adds natural sweetness to this soup.

Add the corn. Stir over medium heat for 2-3 minutes. It doesn't seem like this makes a difference, but frying the corn in the onion butter does help add complexity to the corn flavor.

Blend

There are three options for blending the soup: hand blender (coarse texture), conventional blender (smoother but still visible chunks), or Vitamix (as smooth as it gets).

Before blending, remove ¼ cup of the corn mixture to serve as garnish. Add the homemade corn stock to the soup and blend. Alternatively, use plain water or vegetable stock.

If using a blender, take care to remove the plastic insert on the lid and cover with a towel. This allows some steam to escape while blending, otherwise, it can build up in the blender and explode.

Make ahead: The soup doesn't have to be blended right away. You can store the cooked corn in the fridge, then blend and reheat when you're ready to eat. This soup also tastes really good cold.

Equipment

You will need a couple of items to make this creamed soup.

• 2 qt pot to make the cook the corn and onions
• Blender: either hand blender, regular blender, or Vitamix will work
• 2 qt pot to make the optional corn stock

Storage

Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Freeze up to a month.