Chilled Corn Soup With Honeydew Polka Dots
- 10 medium to large ears corn, shucked
- 2 cups homemade chicken broth or 1 17-ounce can chicken broth with 1/4 cup filtered water
- 2 cups filtered water (if using canned broth, substitute milk for water)
- 1 teaspoon salt ( 3/4 teaspoon if using canned broth and milk)
- 18 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 ripe honeydew melon
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (or more)
- 2 teaspoons minced chervil or 1 teaspoon minced basil
- Grate kernels from 4 ears corn into a large bowl, using coarse side of grater (there should be 1 cup grated corn, including juices); discard cobs.
- Using paring knife, cut kernels from remaining 6 ears (there should be 3 cups); set aside.
- Break 4 cobs in half, and combine with grated corn, chicken broth and water in 1 1/2 gallon stockpot; discard 2 remaining cobs.
- Bring to simmer, and cook, covered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove cobs from broth with tongs, and discard.
- Pour mixture into blender, and puree until completely smooth.
- Return to pot.
- Stir in whole kernels, bring to a simmer, and cook until corn is crisp-tender, about 5 minutes.
- Transfer soup to bowl (not plastic).
- Stir in salt and cayenne.
- Cover, and refrigerate, or stir over ice water bath at room temperature until very cold (about 5 hours in refrigerator, 1 hour over ice).
- Halve and seed melon.
- With melon baller, make tiny balls (there should be about 1 1/4 cups) or cut melon into dice.
- Cover melon balls and chill over ice until ready to use (up to 1 hour before serving).
- To serve, stir buttermilk into soup.
- Taste, and adjust seasoning.
- Toss melon balls with chervil or basil, and sprinkle with salt.
- Divide melon balls among 6 chilled shallow bowls.
- Pour cold soup around melon.
corn, chicken broth, filtered water, salt, cayenne pepper, honeydew, buttermilk, chervil
Taken from cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/10935 (may not work)