Tobagoan Corn Soup - Added Chef's Note

While Brett and I were in Tobago our housekeeper made dinner for us and it was amazing. One of the best parts was the corn soup. Corn soup is a traditional Trinidad & Tobago food but when searching for a recipe online I didn't find any with the ingredients she had used. So, I took a few recipes online and mixed them up with the ingredients I knew she had used. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. For those able to imbibe, I encourage you to enjoy it with a very chilly beer. I didn't take a picture of the food, but here's a beach picture in case that helps to enjoy the food more!

Chef's Note: This ended up being considerably more spicy the day after, so maybe a few less "flavor" peppers would do the trick. It's a good thing I didn't add the serrano that many recipes called for! Oh, and that means this should be enjoyed with not one, but two icy cold beers.

Ingredients

- 1 1/2 tbsp butter

- 3 onions, chopped

- 4 bell peppers, chopped

- 1 poblano pepper, chopped

- 1 mild chili, chopped

- 5 cloves of garlic, minced

- 4 cans no-salt added cream style corn

- 2 cans sweet corn

- 2 cans light coconut milk

- 16 oz vegetable broth

- 1 can water (I rinsed the bottom of the cream corn cans out)

- 1 tbsp turmeric

- 1/2 tsp chipotle seasoning

- 3 sprigs thyme - no need to remove the leaves they will cook off

- 4 bay leaves

- salt

- pepper

- seasoning (I used some purchased in Tobago, but a jerk seasoning would work)

Directions

1) Melt the butter in the bottom of a large stock pot (thanks, Molly!)

2) Add the onions and saute until almost translucent

3) Add the garlic and peppers and saute until soft

4) Add the remainder of the ingredients to the pot, bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer

5) Simmer for at least a half hour

6) Remove the bay leaves and thyme sprigs

7) Scoop out about 3 cups of the soup mixture and place aside

8) Using an immersion blender, blend the remaining soup until smooth. Just a side note, I do not recommend blending hot foods in a normal blender... it explodes. :)

9) Return the soup that was set aside to the pot and stir thoroughly

10) Ladle into bowls and serve with corn muffins (slathered in butter)

Makes about 16 1-cup servings. This freezes well, too.