Saturday, January 9, 2010

Zucchini Corn Soup & Mama's Corn Bread


Ok, ok, I know I just posted a soup recipe, but i can't help it, this is what we've been eating. Earlier this week we went to a friend's house for dinner and she made a delicious soup with zucchini, corn, dill, and some vegetable bullion. Last night, I tried to use similar ingredients for a similar result. Apparently it's the starch in the corn that gives it the creamy texture. In the world of soups, it was a really nice change of pace from the brothy types we usually make. (Plus, I was dying to play with my new food processor.)

Ideally, I would have had some fresh yeasted bread to accompany the soup, but without prior preparation, I thought it would be a good time to try my mother's cornbread in one of our "new" iron skillets. I suppose the word "corn" can be the tie that binds between these two? Mostly, this meal was about celebrating the end of a cold, snowy work week, with something warm and comforting. Success!

Zucchini Corn Soup
interpreted from Alia's soup dish on Monday night


Ingredients:
-1 small onion
-1 large shallot
-4 cloves of garlic (note: these first three ingredients are the best way to start anything)
-4 small (out of season) zucchinis
-1 large carrot
-1 large celery stalk
-3/4 of a 1lb bag of frozen corn
-1 1/2 boxes of chicken broth or vegetable broth (I like reduced sodium so I can be in charge of my own salt)
-1 Tbs dill weed
-salt and pepper to taste
-olive oil for pot

Roughly chop all the vegetables but the corn, (the soup will be pureed later).

In a large pot, heat up about a tablespoon of olive oil (I would have started with some bacon or ham if I'd had any). Sautee the garlic, onion, shallot, and some salt until browned and fragrant, keep stirring to prevent burning. Stir in the chopped zucchini, carrot, and celery until coated with oil. Sautee for about a minute.

Pour in the chicken broth, be sure to scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to get up all those bits of flavorful caramelized onion. Cover lightly and bring to a boil. Add frozen corn and simmer for 15 minutes or until flavorful. Turn off heat and allow to cool.

In small batches, transfer the cooled soup to a blender to puree. Return to heat to warm up. Add salt and pepper to taste.



Mama's Skillet Cornbread
ever so slightly adapted from Cathy's Cookbook

Preheat oven 400 degrees F

1 cup stone ground cornmeal
1 cup self rising flour (lots of my mother's recipes call for this, so I finally went ahead and bought a bag of it. It is just all-purpose flour with salt and leaveners already in it)
2 Tbs sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk (you can substitute regular milk with a tsp of vinegar in it)
2 beaten eggs

Combine dry ingredients.
In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, buttermilk, and eggs.
Stir wet ingredients into the dry with a wooden spoon until combined.
Bake for 20 minutes (or until browned on the top) in a well-greased iron skillet (size 8).

(This makes quite a bit of corn bread, this morning on the phone, mama said you could reduce the recipe by a third and use a size 6 skillet for less servings.)


Soundtrack: Ella Fitzgerald, A-Tisket A-Tasket

2 comments:

  1. I usually heat the skillet on the stove or in the oven and then grease it before I add the batter. DK why.

    ReplyDelete
  2. well you left that out of your recipe book! How are newbies like me supposed to know? call their moms i guess...

    ReplyDelete