Another Soup: Corn and Green Chili Bisque

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(Photos updated 12/14/11)

 

Another soup? Yep. I promise I do make things other than soups and stews, but lately I have been making standby types of dishes that have already made it to the blog. On Sundays, I like to play around more with stews and soups.

When I worked downtown, I ate Au Bon Pain’s soup fairly frequently for lunch. Our workplace cafeteria featured a couple of ABP’s soups daily, and the restaurant itself was just a couple blocks away. I always really liked this one soup in particular—corn and green chili bisque. It’s sort of like a spicy corn chowder, but better.

I decided to try and recreate that soup tonight, or at least a similar one. Now, I will throw out the disclaimer that I haven’t worked downtown in over two years—meaning, I haven’t had this soup in over two years. So, I can honestly I say I don’t really remember exactly what it tasted like. But, obviously I knew it had corn and green chiles in it. It was a bisque so it was slightly creamy and pureed. I looked at the published ingredients online, which helped a  bit, and ran with the idea.

In my not so humble opinion, I did a pretty damn good job. This soup turned out great! It was very flavorful and had a good texture. I roasted the corn to give it more flavor, and I added some masa harina in with the stock to thicken it up a bit and add a little more corn flavor to the soup. This is a slightly spicy soup, so you can adjust the amount of peppers, etc. to suit your taste. My  husband and I really enjoyed it.

2012 UPDATE: I recently had this soup from Au Bon Pain for the first time in over 5 years. And you know what? I MUCH prefer my version. I think it has better flavor and more heat (which I like). The Au Bon Pan version is a touch creamier and more bisque-y but I love the texture of this soup as I make it.

 

Another Soup: Corn and Green Chili Bisque

  • 30 minutes
  • 30 minutes
  • 10-12 cups

Ingredients

  • 1.5 Tbsp butter
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 3-4 large anaheim or hatch chile peppers, chopped
  • 1 jalapeno, minced
  • 1 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1.5 lbs. fresh tomatillos or 1 (28 oz.) can tomatillos, cored and coarsely chopped
  • 1 tsp. ground cumin
  • 1 tsp. chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp. oregano
  • 2 cups roasted corn*
  • 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
  • 1/4 cup masa harina
  • 3/4 cup cream or half and half

Directions

  1. In a stockpot or Dutch oven, melt the butter. Cook the onion and all the peppers over
    medium heat until tender. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
  2. Add the tomatillos, cumin, oregano, chili powder and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and
    simmer over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  3. Add 1 cup of the corn. Add some of the broth and then use your immersion blender to process the mixture into a thick puree.
  4. Mix the masa harina with the remaining chicken broth until it’s dissolved and then add it to the pot along with the remaining corn.* Increase the heat and then simmer for 15
    minutes. Add the cream or milk, heat through, and season to taste.



    *I typically cut the corn kernels off 3 large or 4 smaller ears and then toss with canola oil, salt, and pepper on a rimmed baking sheet and roast at 425 for about 10-15 minutes. You can add the cobs to the sauce while it's simmering for more corn flavor!
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