Chilled Corn Soup With Basil
- Total Time
- 15 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 3ears corn, shucked
- 1½cups buttermilk
- ½cup basil leaves, more for garnish
- 3scallions, roughly chopped
- 1tablespoon fresh lime juice, more to taste
- 1fat garlic clove, roughly chopped
- ¾teaspoon fine sea salt
- Radish slices, for garnish
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for garnish
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
131 calories; 5 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 20 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 10 grams sugars; 6 grams protein; 440 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Slice kernels off corn cobs (you should have 3 to 3½ cups kernels). Discard cobs and place kernels in a blender.
- Step 2
Add buttermilk, basil, scallions, lime juice, garlic, salt and ⅓ cup ice cubes to the blender and purée until very smooth.
- Step 3
Strain mixture through a sieve, pressing down hard on the solids. Serve soup garnished with radish slices and a drizzle of olive oil.
Private Notes
Comments
I have made this soup a dozen times or more. My learnings:
Use a good brand of buttermilk. The cheap store brands don't taste very good. The buttermilk doesn't need to be full fat, 1% will do. The freshest corn and basil will make a difference. I don't add ice cubes because I like the soup a little thicker. I do strain the soup to smooth it out. Finally, I make this soup hours if not a day ahead of time and chill it. It is a wonderful starter for summer dinner parties.
We love this! Easy and refreshing summer starter.
Changes:
Make a few hours (or even a day) ahead and chill -- improves soup greatly.
NO ice cubes -- too watery.
DO NOT strain -- too watery.
If your basil is strong, reduce amount or flavor will overwhelm the soup.
In a pinch, substitute 3 cups frozen corn for the fresh ears -- the soup is still delicious.
Don’t discard the cobs. If you can’t bear doing this now freeze them and do it when it’s cooler but make a stock out of them...it makes the best stock to use in all sorts of ways. #zerowaste
A superb, and amazingly easy recipe!! Per substitutions: I used coconut milk (organic, low-fat, from Trader Joe's). Also, no scallions on hand, so used 1 tablespoon minced red onion. Two large ears of corn yielded a sufficient quantity of kernels (although more would have been great if I'd had them...). Wonderful use of abundant basil in our garden!
Made as directed and the basil was overpowering and gave the soup a bitter aftertaste. This has potential but I’d cut the basil in half next time.
Be warned that the size of your scallions is critical. I used 3 as called for but they were on the fat side so my initial result was way too oniony. I diluted with more corn/buttermilk/lime/salt and fixed it so the sweet corn flavor shines and is not overwhelmed by the scallion.
Yes -- I subbed 1 Tbs. minced red onion for the scallions, and would be very careful about not overdoing any of the allium family in this recipe, as the flavor does sort of "take over."