Chilled Corn Soup

I had this soup at Bloom restaurant and then went home and made it myself.  It's absolutely amazing--tastes like pure corn--and just the thing for hot weather!

Chilled Corn Soup Serves 6
12 ears of sweet corn, de-kerneled and scraped
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic (optional)
1 quart whole milk (suck it up, you won't regret)

1/2 pound med shrimp, cleaned and de-tailed.
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tsp kosher salt

Saute the onion in 3 tbsp of unsalted butter until tender and translucent (about 5 mins).  Add whole cloves of garlic.  Add  the corn and the dekerneled cobs and enough water to cover the mixture by an inch.  Simmer with the lid on until kernels are very soft (you can also do this in a pressure cooker), about 40 mins.  Cool mixture.  Remove garlic.  Puree in batches adding about a cup of milk to each blender batch.  Then run the mixture through a fine sieve, using a wooden spoon or reamer to separate the corn liquid from the solids.  Be patient:  You want the soup to be texture free and this step takes time.  You don't want to add so much milk that you lose the corn flavor, but you also want the fat of the milk to add to the soup's taste.

Reheat the liquid soup gently to a simmer --but don't boil or burn.  (I did this to help with any lactose intolerance issues--its seems to denature the raw milk and I was able to eat the soup without problems).  Pour the soup into a metal bowl and chill in the freezer.  

In the meantime, saute the shrimp in butter, olive oil and 2-cloves of chopped garlic with a healthy pinch of kosher salt.  You want the shrimp to cook fast (grilling would be even better) and you want them a bit salty because they will provide contrast to the sweet soup.  Once cooked, let cool to room temp.

Serving:  In deep bowls, scatter 4-5 shrimp, then pour cold soup over them.  Garnish with cilantro oil, or other flavored oil if you like.

I served this with grilled artichokes and lemon aioli, followed by an arugula salad with truffle oil and lemon.


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