This is a fantastic chilled soup based on yet another recipe from Tara O’Brady’s Seven Spoons cookbook. After we fell in love with the Whipped Ricotta with Pea Pesto from the same collection, we knew we couldn’t go wrong. This is a neater, more tooth-friendly version of one of our favorite summer dishes: Elotes. This Mexican street food consists of roasted, lightly charred corn on the cob slathered with a cayenne-laced mayonnaise, rolled in crumbled cotija cheese, then finished off with a squeeze of fresh lime juice. It sounds like a lot going on, but trust us, once you have this corn on the cob variation, you might never be satisfied by the traditional buttered version again. It is a comfort food that gets ordered automatically if we ever see it on the menu of a Mexican restaurant. No discussion, no questions.
There is a corn salad called Esquites that incorporates all of those same flavors into a fork-ready treat, but we wanted to go one step further and make a great summer soup so that we could feel a little less gluttonous while indulging. Another advantage of the soup version is that it couldn’t be simpler to make. You’ll blanch the corn and tomatoes, remove the kernels from the cob, then peel and seed the tomatoes. After that, the hard part is over—if you don’t count the two hours you’ll have to wait for it to chill in the fridge.
The garlic, peppers, onion and almonds all get pre-processed in the blender. Once the corn and tomatoes are prepped, you give everything a whir in the blender until it is reduced to a smooth purée. Depending on the size of your blender’s pitcher, you might have to do this step in batches. Frustrating, yes, but it beats overfilling and dealing with the mess of exploding soup.
The original recipe called for a couple of slices of bread to be added as a thickening agent, but we opted to forego that for obvious reasons. By increasing the amount of blanched almonds called for, we eliminated the gluten from the recipe and maintained the thickness and body of the finished gazpacho. There wasn’t any white wine vinegar in the house, so we went with plain old distilled white vinegar instead, finished with some fresh lime juice. It harkened back to that original flavor element in the Elotes and imparted the same brightness to the soup.
Once the soup has chilled sufficiently, garnish with a sprinkling of cayenne, some crumbled cheese, some reserved corn kernels, a little chopped cilantro and a dollop of sour cream. Not only do these garnishes make for a lovely presentation, but they cover the remaining components of the Elotes. If you can’t find any cotija cheese, feel free to substitute any other tangy, crumbly cheese like feta or ricotta salata. They’ll do wonderfully. The Seven Spoons recipe called for a poblano chile cream, which sounds amazing, but summer laziness the desire for simplicity and less cleanup ruled it out for our version. We went with a simple sour cream, which added just the right amount of lushness to the soup, and offered an assist to the cheese in the “tang” department.
The end result is a filling, refreshing, vegetarian soup that takes full advantage of sweet corn at its prime, with a trace of tartness from the lime and just the right amount of heat from the cayenne. If you want to make the soup even healthier, you can eliminate the cheese and sour cream for a lighter, vegan version. Store any leftover soup (leftovers, yeah right) in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy it whenever you need a delicious little cool down. You’re welcome.
Adapted from Seven Spoons.
- Soup
- 4 ears yellow or bicolor corn, husked and snapped in two
- 1½ pounds (570 g) yellow tomatoes, stemmed
- 1 small sweet onion, roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 yellow bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and roughly chopped
- ⅔ cup (35 g) blanched almonds
- 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
- 2 limes, juiced
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- To Serve
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup crumbled cotija, feta, or ricotta salata
- ¼ cup cilantro leaves
- Cayenne pepper
- To make the soup, fill a large bowl with cold water and ice. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Salt the water liberally. Cook the corn for 2 minutes, then submerge the cobs in the ice water for 3 minutes. While the corn cools, keep the pot of water at a boil. Cut a small cross into the bottom of each tomato and carefully drop the tomatoes into the boiling water and let them cook for 1 minute. Lift the tomatoes from the pot and plunge into the ice water. Once cool, peel, core, and chop the tomatoes.
- In a blender, process the onion, garlic, and bell pepper into a paste. Scrape down the sides of the carafe, then add the almonds, and process again.
- Slice the corn kernels from the cobs. Set aside approximately ¾ cup (180 g) kernels for garnish, then add the rest of the corn to the blender, along with the chopped tomatoes. Puree the vegetables until velvety, about 3 minutes. Pour in the vinegar, lime juice, a generous pinch of salt, and some pepper. Process again. With the motor running, add the olive oil in a thin, steady stream through the hole in the blender’s lid. Stop the blender, taste, adding more salt or pepper as needed. Pour the soup into a serving bowl or pitcher. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, and up to overnight.
- To serve, ladle the chilled soup into bowls, top with sour cream, the reserved corn, crumbled cheese, cilantro leaves, and cayenne pepper.
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