Chilled Corn Soup With Basil
Updated February 4, 2016
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
- Total Time
- 15 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
3 ears corn, shucked
1 ½ cups buttermilk
½ cup basil leaves, more for garnish
3 scallions, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, more to taste
1 fat garlic clove, roughly chopped
¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
Radish slices, for garnish
Extra-virgin olive oil, for garnish
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
20 grams carbs; 4 milligrams cholesterol; 131 calories; 2 grams monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 5 grams fat; 2 grams fiber; 440 milligrams sodium; 6 grams protein; 10 grams sugar
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 3 ½ 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
No one here mentioned that it's rather sweet...the buttermilk I used was far from expiraton date, so it wasn't a case of spoiled buttermilk. I found this absolutely vile. It was like eating vanilla yogurt with a heavy overlay of basil.
This was just awful. Like eating vanilla yogurt with a heavy overlay of basil.
I always substitute cilantro for the basil, plus I add the zest of the lime. I use a bag of frozen corn that I thaw instead of wrestling with fresh corn. I never add ice, never strain it. I do have a Vitamix which makes it nice and smooth.