Soup Series: Etch Sweetcorn and Basil Veloute
I love soup.
With winter beating down our doors, what better time to highlight what is possibly my favourite meal ever. I really do love soups, all types of soups! Some of my best memories as a kid are of sitting around in the kitchen chopping and peeling mountains of vegetables as my mum prepared pot after pot of soup. I think half of it is the fact that soups are almost (almost I say) impossible to ruin and there’s nothing better than being home on a rainy day with a warm bowl of soup in your hands.
Onto the soup! Before a recent trip to etch by Becasse I quickly googled for a few reviews and the one thing I kept reading was to try the corn soup. Following this advice I did so and fell in love. I’ve never thought about having a corn soup before, despite the number of corn products I’ve tried (Corn Pocky is amazingly corn like, just without the juice). I made this for our Sunday Lunchinner and it was a definite hit with the team.
The soup is made up 6 cobs of corn tossed with onion, thyme and cooked in a stock made from the leftover cobs. While messy to make the resulting soup is is amazingly sweet and light and will have your whole house smelling of corn and butter.
Recipe: Sweetcorn and Basil Veloute
Recipe Adapted from French Lessons by Justin North
- 6 Corn cobs
- 3 Litres of water
- 1 Garlic bulb
- 8 Sprigs of Thyme
- 80g Unsalted butter
- 1 Onion, finely sliced
- Salt & Pepper
- 100ml Cream
- 1/2 Bunch of basil leaves
- Cut the corn cobs in half and use a knife to cut off all of the kernels. Cut the leftover cobs in half again and put them in a large pot with the water, half of the garlic and 4 sprigs of thyme. Bring to the boil making sure to skim it well. Lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, once done remove from the heat and strain through a sieve. This is your corn stock.
- Melt the butter in a heavy based saucepan until it froths. Finely slice the rest of the garlic and add to the pan with the onions. Season well then sweat over a low heat for 5 minutes until the onion is soft and translucent. Add in your corn kernels and sweat for a few more minutes.
- Add in your corn stock and bring the pot to the boil. Add the rest of the thyme, season again then lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes skimming frequently. Add the cream and bring the soup back to a simmer. Ladle into a liquidizer in batches and whiz to a very smooth puree (I used a hand mixer with no problems). Use the back of a heavy knife and bruise the basil and add to the soup. Allow this to infuse for 30 minutes.
- Push the soup through a fine sieve and adjust the seasoning to your liking. Serve immediately or stock in a container with a tight fitting lid and refrigerate. Because of the high fat content the soup does not freeze well and is best eaten within 3 days.
I finish this post off with something different altogether.
I. Am an eveleigh-aholic.
To those not in the know the Eveleigh Markets run every Saturday and inevitably I find myself wandering on down (despite not being anywhere close to being in the area). I’m a firm believer that you really benefit from what you put in your body and let me say, having made this soup with corn from Harris Farm and corn bought from Eveleigh, the difference in taste was clear. The Eveleigh corn gave me a soup which was much naturally sweeter and the colour was much brighter.
In case that wasn’t enough to convince you to head on down to Eveleigh, what about a colourful montage from my first trip?
You never know who you’ll bump into…
Eveleigh Markets
243 Wilson St,
Darlington, NSW (Adjacent to Carriageworks)
Ph: (02) 9209 4220
Author
By Minh
Minh is a food, photography, tv loving girl who on occasion likes to think that she can cook. I can't hold my drink for what its worth and have an unhealthy obsession with green tea products.
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This article was written on 27 May 2009, and is filed under cookshowandtell, Dinner Recipes.
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Ack! I am obsessed with corn. I’ve been dying to try the veloute at Etch but now I think I will just make it myself
thanks! (I haven’t tried corn Pocky either, must get some of that too)
Steph’s last blog post..La Renaissance Patisserie, The Rocks
Did you try that butter? Absolutely divine! You should let me know when you head down, i try to get down there every weekend to grab my veggies and fruit!
Reemski’s last blog post..The Royal George at The Ivy, Sydney
Maybe you could freeze it before you add the cream. On the other hand I think I’d be wanting to eat it right away, especially if it was made with sweet fresh corn.
Arwen from Hoglet K’s last blog post..Swasdee Thai
It’s interesting that the soup is flavoursome even though it is made with water, not stock. Looks fantastic, though!
Belle@OohLook’s last blog post..New Zumbo Macarons = Amazing!
Yum! Looks delicious! I love corn soup! Who doesn’t? Have you tried Tetsuya’s chilled corn soup? That has to be the gold standard in corn soups for me.
Great produce shots and soup sounds delicious! Have you tried white corn? Oh that is some yummy stuff if you can get a hold of it (sometimes my Woolworths stocks it and I grab it).
Lorraine @NotQuiteNigella’s last blog post..Yuletide Pork dinner at Restaurant Atelier, Glebe
I saw this post a few days ago, but remembered it again this arvo after I bought a whole sack of corn. Think I’ll make it tomorrow
Oh, and isn’t eveleigh fantastic, i bought some beautiful cavolo nero from there this morning – I just wish that I lived closer.
lili – pikeletandpie’s last blog post..Chocolate and Walnut Strudel – Daring Bakers
[...] since Minh posted her adapted recipe for the Sweet Corn and Basil Veloute by Justin North, I’d bookmarked it for future reference. [...]
[...] since Minh posted her adapted recipe for the Sweet Corn and Basil Veloute by Justin North, I’d bookmarked it for future reference. [...]
[...] loves soup, and her corn soup veloute is almost as corny as my jumper. Okay maybe not, but it is seriously creamy and perfect winter [...]
Sound an interesting corn soup. The garlic bulb on step 1, does it need to be peeled? I read a recipe somewhere which stated that garlic bulb in soup do not need to be peeled off which is strange to me as I usually peel them prior cooking.
I've usually peeled and crushed the garlic every time I make this soup, but I think it would probably be nice roasted whole as well! The entire stock is drained at the end so I don't think the peel would make a difference
[...] dished out some sweetcorn soup which was awesome and full of sweetcorn flavour. I could’ve had a billion bowls of the stuff [...]