KITCHEN ADVENTURE: SWEET CORN SOUP: In which I regain my cook-fu!

What I used: A can of extra sweet corn kernels. (Recipe called for actual corn on the cob, and you were even supposed to scrape the “milk” from the cobs into the soup, but I am lazy, and anyway this tasted great.) Butter. About half a sweet onion. Salt, pepper, cayenne, half a medium-large jalapeno (could’ve used more, definitely), heavy cream, chopped fresh chives and cilantro (would leave out the cilantro next time–it was good, but I thought the soup would need it, and in fact it really didn’t–maybe made the soup a bit too sweet).

What I did: Heated butter over moderate-low heat. Added onions, s & p, cayenne. Covered and cooked, stirring occasionally, until onions were… well, the recipe says they should be soft, but I like somewhat spunkier onions, so I really only cooked them quite briefly. Uncovered and continued cooking a bit; added corn and cream, and brought to boil. Reduced heat and simmered about 20 mins. (Here the recipe says you should puree the soup, but I don’t have a blender, so I didn’t.) Topped with fresh chives (and cilantro, see above) and ate. Tonight I’m going to toast and butter a sourdough roll and use it to mop up the leftovers.

How it turned out: This is a delicious, very sweet, very easy soup. I expect it would be a real crowd-pleaser. It is much “fancier” in taste than my usual corn soup (a slapdash fake-Mexican thing involving creamed corn, “Mexican blend” shredded cheese, jalapenos, chopped tomato, onion, cayenne, and cream–absolutely delectable, but very homey).

Bonus kitchen adventure!: Goat gouda. This is so good! It was on sale (though still pretty expensive). Goat gouda!!! It’s as fun to eat as it is to say!