Spicy Corn and Crab Soup

I don’t know about you but I more than enthusiastically welcomed that nation-wide cool front this past weekend. Yes, fall is slowly moving in and with it bringing all the foods and flavors of the season and I can’t wait. But before we exchange our tank tops and flip flops for sweaters and boots, how about we give one last cheer to good ol’ summer by making one of my favorite warm-weather meals; Spicy Corn and Crab Soup. This soup is summer in a bowl: light and silky with a touch of heat. I finished it off by stirring in some freshly-shelled crab for a substantial sweetness that melds perfectly with all the pureed, garden-fresh veggies.

Before we get started...
This soup is a puree which means of course needing a blending apparatus and for me, only an immersion blender will do. Yes, I consider the immersion blender to be the Elder Wand of the culinary world. With it, I can blend, chop and puree whatever I please right in the pot I cooked it in without having to mess with (and clean) my clunky blender . (If you make your own baby food, I don't have to tell you how convenient that is.) If you are a classic- blender purist than by all means continue on as usual but if you are looking for an awesome alternative, run down to Bed Bath and Beyond, because I know you have a coupon, and pick one up.

Please direct your attention to my fridge and take a moment to admire the stunning portrait inspired by my likeness that my niece gave me 

moving on...

Cleaning corn has the potential to get quite messy, so to prevent you from finding corn silk around your kitchen weeks after cooking it, I am sharing the ultimate shucking-hack guaranteed to be as mess-free as possible:

1. Cut about ¼ inch off the top of each cob

2. Microwave on high at five minutes per cob. So, if microwaving two cobs at a time, microwave  for ten minutes.

3. Using nice, thick oven mitts to handle the corn because it will be HOT, remove the cobs from the microwave and cut off the shank (stem end) and about 1/4- 1/2 inch of the actual cob

Holding the top of the cob squeeze/ pull/shimmy the corn right out of the husk. The silk should remain in the husk, leaving you with perfectly cleaned cobs of corn. 

 -To clean the kernels from the cob, simply rest a small bowl upside down inside a large bowl. Place the cob upright on the smaller bowl and while holding the cob in one hand, run your knife the length of the corn where the kernels meet the cob, releasing the kernels.

  *hang onto your cobs; you aren’t quite done with them yet!*

 now onto our recipe.....

Spicy Corn and Crab Soup

Tools needed:

• Cutting board
• Sharp knife
• Large pot
• Large spoon
• Blender

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion
• 1 small red bell pepper
• 2medium carrots
• 1-2 jalapenos (depending on how spicy you like your soup. Don’t like it spicy? Leave it out!)
• Corn from 6 cobs or about 6 cups frozen corn
• 64 oz vegetable broth
• 2 cups spinach or other leafy greens
• 1 cup whipped cream (dairy cream or coconut cream)
• 16 oz or 2 cups chopped or lump crab meat
• Salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Heat the olive oil in the pot over a medium to medium high heat

       2. Dice your onion. (1-2 cups of pre diced, frozen onion works well too, just reduce cooking time)

       -Start by slicing the onion in half starting at the root to create two equal portions.  

       -Remove the paper skin and lay the onion half flat towards the edge of your board for better leverage

       -Now, CAREFULLY make horizontal slices without going all the way through the onion. (Don’t go too far back to the root until you are comfortable with this technique because your knife can quickly slip. 

        -Next, while using one hand to hold the horizontal slices in place, make vertical cuts. 

        This will create your dices. Again, everything is still intact on the root end

  * make your horizontal and vertical slices closer together for a smaller dice and further apart for a larger dice.

-While holding the onion together with one hand, carefully make horizontal cuts to release the dice.      

*Remember, this is a blended soup so it doesn’t matter if your dices are pretty, but for the sake of even cooking, it’s important to try to get everything as close to the same size as possible *

3. Dice the bell pepper

 -slice the pepper in half and clean out the white membrane and seeds

-laying it skin-side down on the cutting board, run your knife vertically and then horizontally,  creating dices

 4. Add both the diced onion and bell pepper to the pan with some salt and stir to coat in the oil.

5. Slice the carrots into fairly thin disks and add them to the pot and toss with the onion and bell pepper 

  6. Dice the jalapenos just like the bell pepper, making sure to remove the white membrane and the seeds and add them to the pot.

7. Once the vegetables have begun to soften, add the corn kernels. 

*if you hung onto the cobs, glide a spoon all around each cob to get the remaining pieces of kernel that might have been left behind while slicing. You will also notice a white, chalky liquid being released with the kernel bits. This is corn starch and not only will it provide additional corn flavor to the soup, but also help give it a slightly silkier texture as well.*

8. Stir to incorporate all the veggies and add the broth

9. Bring the pot to a boil and continue to cook until all the vegetables are very soft and the soup is fragrant.

10. Roughly chop the spinach and stir into the soup

*One thing you will quickly learn about me is that I incorporate greens anywhere I can. You need at least 3 serving of leafy vegetables a day and this is an easy way to accomplish that, however this is not a mandatory ingredient as most corn soup recipes leave it out*

11. Once the spinach is wilted, either transfer the soup into a blender or use an immersion blender, and blend until it is smooth and creamy. Salt and pepper to your heart's content.

12. Pour the soup back into the pot and fold in the whipped cream

(to make your own whipped cream or coconut whipped cream, which I think goes great in this soup, simple use whole fat, canned coconut cream, or heavy whipping cream and whisk until  thick and fluffy)

 13. Stir in the crab, portion your soup into bowls and garnish with any leftover crab

**Make it all yours!**  if you can’t get any, or just don’t want crab, chicken, shrimp, crayfish, oysters and even tofu could be great protein- rich additions to this soup.

- Also, experiment with your peppers, different kinds of peppers offer different levels of heat, sweetness and other unique flavor characteristics, especially after roasting. Try them all and give your soup a subtle switch up each time you make it!
 -Use the techniques and methods in this recipe to create any pureed soup by using your choice of veggies. Now go make something Delicious!