Serves 6 as a first-course.

Ingredients

• 6 ears of fresh sweet corn
• 4 tbsp butter
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 small hot pepper, such as Hungarian yellow, pasilla or jalapeno
• Salt

(Equipment: fine-mesh sieve, blender, paper bag.)

Preparation
(1) Shuck the ears of corn and remove the kernels from the cob by running a sharp knife length-wise down all four sides of the cob. Melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan and add corn kernels and a large pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, for five minutes.

(2) Add the water, stir, and cover the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. (The water doesn’t need to come to a boil.)

(3) Roast the pepper whole by resting it directly on a burner turned to “medium” on the stovetop for two minutes, turning the pepper as the skin begins to blacken and peel. (Alternatively, you can blacken the skin on a grill, under a very hot broiler, or in a very hot oven.) Place the pepper in a paper bag, crumple the bag shut and let steam for 15 minutes. may have to work in batches) and puree well. Strain the pureed corn through mesh sieve to extract all the liquids but leave behind the starchy, fibrous solids. Stir the heavy cream into the pale-yellow liquid corn soup

(4) When the corn is ready, pour the contents of the saucepan into a blender (you may have to work in batches) and puree well. Strain the pureed corn through a mesh sieve to extract all the liquids but leave behind the starchy, fibrous solids. Stir the heavy cream into the pale-yellow liquid corn soup

(5) When ready to serve, reheat the soup over low heat, but do not boil. Remove the pepper from the paper bag and peel or rub off the blackened skin. Remove the seeds from inside the pepper and chop the remaining flesh into small bits. Check the soup for salt, pour into small bowls and add a few bits of chopped roasted pepper to each bowl. Enjoy.

Adapted from Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook

Cilantro Cream

Ingredients
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Preparation
(1) Place all ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth.

(2) Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Place mixture in piping bag or plastic dispensing bottle.

(3) Pipe a line on Fire Roasted Red Pepper Soup and run a toothpick through to create a design

This recipe was demoed by Chaylon Blancett and the Culinary Team of Sur la Table at the Palo Alto Community Farmshop. Quite delicious! Find out more about their cooking classes here.

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