Cooking - Fresh and Simple Corn Soup

With the spoils of a farmers' market on the kitchen counter, I came up with a simple soup yesterday that can be served hot or cold and falls into the "it's good for you " category of guiltless pleasures. I guess I'll call it "1,2,3,4 Soup" - you'll see why. My test tasters are in agreement that this is best served chilled - allows for more flavor to come through. So with reports of 112F in the valley and a mellow 80F up here in the mountains I'm perfectly happy to sip away at my soup on the deck, snoozing dogs at my feet and hummingbirds mobbing the feeders.

Corn Soup

Dutch oven or soup pot
TBSP or more olive oil
1 oz. pancetta or chopped bacon

Put the olive oil and pancetta or bacon in the pot, cook over med to high heat about 5 minutes until the bacon is crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and either discard (or in my case, mix with the dogs dinner!) solids and leave the rendered fat in the pot.

ADD

1 Cup sweet onion thinly sliced
2 Cups fresh zucchini thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic chopped

to the pot and cook in the fat/oil over low heat for about 10 minutes or until the onion and zucchini are cooked.

ADD

3 Cups fresh shucked corn kernels
Stir in gently and cook a further five minutes.

ADD

4 Cups broth or water * and simmer 20 minutes or until corn is cooked.
I added a whole dried ancho chili to the simmering broth for added flavor. You could substitute 1/2 tsp. of dried red pepper flakes and add them in the initial sauteing of onion and zuchini.

* I used a Culinary Broth packaged by College Inn (it was what I had in the pantry) this is a chicken broth flavored with white wine, thyme and rosemary . You could use plain chicken stock, vegetable stock or water. Personally I like the "body" you get from a stock.

After cooking, cool check to see if you need salt and then puree in batches proportionate to the size of your blender or food processor. I found that the blender did a better job on the corn than did the processor. Serve hot or cold with a dab of sour cream mixed with diced fresh red pepper and cracked black pepper for garnish.