Corn is the very foundation of Mexican culture and cuisine. This wonderful soup is adapted from a recipe presented by Diana Kennedy in her influential first cookbook, Cuisines of Mexico. At the height of summer, this soup is marvelous made with corn cut off the cob. The second choice is frozen corn. Never use canned corn.
Makes 6 servings
4 cups fresh corn kernels, cut and scraped from 5 or 6 ears of corn, or about 2 10-ounce packages of frozen corn kernels, thawed
4 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 poblano chiles, roasted, peeled, seeded, and diced
6 tablespoons shredded Monterey Jack cheese
6 corn tortillas, cut into thin strips and fried crisp
Combine corn and 1 cup of the milk in a blender. Puree at high speed until smooth; set aside. In a heavy, 3-quart nonreactive stock pot, heat the butter over medium heat until melted and bubbly. Add the corn puree and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the remaining 3 1/2 cups milk and the salt; bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring to avoid sticking. In each of 6 warm soup bowls, put 1 tablespoon each of the diced chiles and shredded cheese. Ladle the hot soup into the bowls and garnish with a few tortilla strips.