Recipe - Definitive Corn Chowder With Jalapeno Peppers

8 cup Heavy cream
3 tablespoon Unsalted butter
1 Mediumsize Maui onion;
thinly cut or sliced up
1 Mediumsize clove garlic;
finely chopped
6 Mediumsize ears corn;
kernels removed
L/2 fresh julapeno pepper;
roasted, peeled, seeded,
and finely chopped
1 Mediumsize red and yellow
bell pepper; roasted,
peeled, seeded, and minced
One half Lime; juiced
3 tablespoon Sour cream; optional
6 small Sprigs fresh cilantro

WHEN I WAS STUDYI French think of corn as pig feed and never eat it. I grew
up on yellow summer sweet corn during my family's summers in Rhode Island
and Wisconsin, and white corn while I was living in Illinois. I have great
memories of the creamed corn my mom always served at Thanksgiving.

Cream and corn are a perfect match, and with this soup I've tried to take
an oldfashioned, fairly pedestrian chowder and give it Frendh refinement.
The base of the soup is a classic Frenchstyle vegetable puree, blended
with a reduction of heavy cream and flavored with saut‚ed onions.

(Substitute a Walla Walla, Vidalia, or a good sweet red onion if Maui
onions aren't available in our area.) Whole kernels of corr1 give it a
chowder's trademark chunkiness. And the cornandcream combination is shown
off in sharp relief by an addition I was introduced to by the Hispanics on
Michael's kitchen staffa lively seasoning of jalapeho peppers, lime
juice, and cilantro.

This soup is superb when made with the white corn grown in the Midwest
instead of the yellow welet corn.

In a mediumsize saucepan, bring the cream to a boil, then reduce the heat
and simmer briskly until it reduces by one quarter, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a mediumsize skillet over
moderate heat. Add the onion and garlic and saut‚ just until soft, about 5
minutes. Add two thirds of the corn kernels and the jalapeho, and continue
saut‚ing until the kernels are al dense, 3 to 5 minutes.

Put the reduced cream and the corn mixture into a processor or blender and
puree smoothly. Press the soup through a finemesh sieve and return it to
the saucepan.

In the skillet, melt the remaining butter over moderate heat and saut‚ the
remaining corn kernels until al dense. Stir them into the soup with the
roasted peppers and heat the soup through over low to moderate heat. Stir
in the lime juice.

Ladle the soup into heated serving bowls. Garnish each serving with a
dollop of sour cream, if you like, and a sprig of cilantro.

Yield: For 6 servings

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Posted to recipeludigest by LSHW shusky@erols.com on Feb 20, 1998