Drunken Corn and Lentil Soup

At first, I wasn't so excited about this soup. But, like many healthy recipes, each bowlful tastes better and better. Prepare for this phenoma when determining serving size....

Last night I fell asleep thinking about how to make a corn puree soup with the meager ingredients in my kitchen. It turned out pretty well considering what I had stashed in my cupboards and freezer. I wanted to post this so you could see the thought process that goes into making a puree soup with ingredients that don't quite break down when blended.

Both corn and lentils have insoluble fiber that don't break down with cooking or digestion. You can either have a chunky-style puree which you have to chew your way through, or, you can strain the entire thing through a fine sieve which gives you a very thin, broth-like soup. The problem with the broth is you lose all that insoluble fiber that gives bulk to the soup and keeps your digestive track running smoothly. I chose to strain 2/3 of the soup through the sieve and add the rest of the puree without straining. This gave it a nice pureed soup consistency.

I was going to make a strictly vegetable puree soup, but I have been trying to get multiple food groups into my dishes, so I opted for lentils which are a grain. I also used beer for flavor which can be substituted for vegetable stock. The alcohol cooks out of this within the first couple minutes of boiling, so, there is no worry about serving this to minors.

Puree:
1 Tb Olive Oil
1/2 Onion Diced
2 carrots peeled and diced
3 large cloves garlic
1 12oz light-colored beer
1 dried guajillo chile, top cut off and seeds taken out (you can find dried chiles in the mexican section of grocery stores)
2 bay leaves
1/2 32oz bag frozen corn (make sure you have more to add after pureeing)
32oz water
2 cups lentils, mostly cooked

Garnish:
2 cups frozen/fresh corn
1 cup Lentils, mostly cooked
1 fresh serrano chile, seeded and minced
1 Tb curry powder
1/2 tsp hungarian paprika
2 tsp sugar
2tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp salt

Cook the lentils in a few cups of water until they are almost cooked through. Stain and set aside. You will want 3 cups of lentils cooked. This takes maybe 15-20 minutes.

Heat a stock pot (at least a gallon size). Add the olive oil, onions, carrot and garlic. Sautee until the onions start to get transluscent. Add the beer and boil until you don't smell the alcohol anymore. Add the bay leaves, chile (leave it whole so you can pull it out before pureeing), frozen corn and lentils. Heat until boiling. Add the water. Bring up to a simmer. Let this cook (without a lid, you want some of the water to boil off) until all of the ingredients are tender, bordering on mushy. This takes approx. 45 min to 1 hr.

Remove the chili. If you want to, scrape the inside of the chili and add this back to the soup. In batches, puree the soup with a blender, immersion blender or food processor. This is a good time to send the first half of the soup through the sieve into another container. When the stock pot is empty, rinse it out and put the puree back into the pot. Add the garnish ingredients and bring back up to a simmer and cook the lentils the rest of the way though. The last things you want to add are the sugar, salt and vinegar. Add these things slowly to the soup to make sure you don't add too much.

Servings: 6 - 8oz bowls.

Notes: This soup is not spicy at all. If you want to kick up the spice, add more guajillo chilis or add some of the serrano seeds. Feel free to substitute any grains for the lentils and any fresh/frozen vegetables for the corn. Also, if you have fresh herbs, chop them up and add them to your bowl. I really wanted cilantro and more serranos in my soup.