Corn & Roasted Pepper Bisque

Blogging Marathon# 26: Week 3/ Day 1
Theme: Pick 1 ingredient and Cook from 3 Books - Soup
Dish: Corn and Roasted Pepper Bisque

Today we begin the 3rd week of blogging marathon (BM# 26) and my theme for this week is 'Cooking from Cookbook'. I thought this would be a great theme to make recipes from my cookbooks, but little did I know that this will be the most challenging theme of Blogging Marathon EVER. Valli wanted us to pick 1 ingredient and make 3 dishes from 3 different cookbooks. I had a clear mind till here, everything started to get confusing once I read that the 3 dishes also are predefined, like a soup/ breakfast combo/dessert or basic/rice/dessert.

I searched high and low for the recipes. I was going back and forth between ingredients like a mad woman,  I think I might have had couple of nightmares with the combos and the ingredients too.  It took me literally 3 days of research to finalize an ingredient and find 3 dishes from 3 books. It has been almost 10 years after my Masters that I did this much research on anything (I guess I just aged myself :-) But it was all fun and Valli, go ahead throw us as many curve balls as you can -- that will at least make our creative juices flowing.

Finally after a LOT of thought, I ended up choosing "Corn" as my main ingredient and for the first day under "Soup/ Juice", I have this "Corn & Roasted Pepper Soup" from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra. This soup has an amazing flavor from the sweet corn, roasted peppers, coconut milk and Thai red chilies. It is creamy,  slightly sweet with a spicy kick.

Ingredients:

Corn - 3cups (about 3 medium cobs, frozen can also be used, but fresh tastes better)

Peppers - 3 (I used yellow and orange peppers)

Onion - 1 medium, finely chopped

Garlic - 3 cloves, finely minced

Yellow Squash - 1 medium, thinly sliced (I used regular zucchini)

Vegetable Stock - 3-4 cups

Thai Red chilies - 2, finely chopped

Coconut Milk - 1 14oz. can (lite is fine too)

Maple Syrup - 1tbsp (omit this if you don't like sweet soups, but I would highly recommend it for the amazing taste)

Lime juice - 2tbsp (or to taste)

Salt - to taste

Method:

• Roast the Peppers: Place the rack on the top most level in the oven and Preheat the oven to 450°F, then change to broil. 
• Cut the peppers in half and remove the seeds; place the peppers cut side down on a foil lined baking sheet. Broil on High for 10- 12 minutes or until the skins ate charred and the peppers are cooked through. Remove from the oven and place the peppers in a bowl and cover it with a plate or plastic wrap. When they are completely cooked, peel the skin off and set aside until ready to use.
• Make the Soup: Heat 1tbsp oil in a saucepan; add onions and garlic and cook for 8-10 minutes or until onions are translucent. Add the squash and sweet corn; cook for 4-5 minutes until squash starts to give out moisture.
• Next add the roasted peppers, red chilies, vegetable stock and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil; then lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until the veggies are tender.
• Add the coconut milk and cook for 3 minutes. Then using an immersion blender or a regular blender (blend in batches) blend the mixture to a smooth soupy consistency.
• Heat the mixture and add maple syrup and lime juice. Taste and season accordingly. Serve hot or warm for a hearty meal.

 

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked up today for BM# 26.