You-Pick Farms

This summer has been perfect. Let’s hope I don’t jinx it by saying that. I know in United States it’s been hot and uncomfortable in most parts of the country while in India it’s the usual humidity. We lucked out in this part of the world and had bearable temperatures. I will admit part of last week was uncomfortably hot and without air conditioning it felt miserable inside the apartment as well outside. But thankfully the late August, high 60s to low 70s, are back this week.

This warranted a trip to the local farm that has you-pick veggies and fruits. I wanted to go to the you-pick farm since I heard about it in Spring. You-pick farms allow customers to come and pick their veggies and fruits. I went with couple friends few weeks ago and bought way too many veggies and blueberries. I’d bought 1/2 kilogram of blueberries and they were gone faster than I could say pancakes! I went back and bought more veggies and raspberries. This time around, I bought a kilo of raspberries and hope they last longer. But this isn’t about raspberries. This is about the corn.

Corn isn’t local to Germany, it’s local to North & Latin America. And Germans are keen on eating foods that are locally grown in the area, which I fully support. However both summers we’ve been here I haven’t seen much of corn at the market or at the grocery stores. When I saw the corn field at the farm, a very small one at that, I made a dash for it. I’ve missed eating sweet corn in summer.

And unfortunately the husband isn’t a fan of sweet corn so that’s the first thing he passes up at state fairs or festivals. I believe, growing up in India has something to do with that. Fortunately for me, the only way he (and most Indians) eat sweet corn is in “sweet corn soup.” The soup tastes nothing like what people in America call sweet corn soup. None the less, I could make my version of sweet corn soup and the husband would eat it just based on the name. Deception is a fine art. With an addition of Jalapeño and sausage, the husband would eat anything, really.

Summer Sweet Corn Soup 

1 teaspoon clarified butter, ghee
1 link smoked pork sausage, sliced (I used garlic wurst from a local farmer)
1 medium red onion, cubed
2 garlic cloves, halved
2 Jalapeño peppers, chopped
3 ears of corn, husks removed
2 cups stock, homemade preferred
1/3 cup whole milk
salt and freshly ground pepper

In a small dutch oven or sauce pan, add ghee on medium low heat. Add the sliced sausage and brown for 3- 4 minutes. If the sausage becomes too crispy too fast, lower the heat to low. After 4 minutes, remove the sliced sausage with slotted spoon onto a plate, leaving behind pork fat. Add onions and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in a pinch of salt, garlic and chopped Jalapeño peppers.

Hold the corn on the cob straight up on a cutting board. With a sharp knife, cut the kernels off the cob. Some kernels will fly off the cob. 

Add the kernels to the dutch oven. Cook for few (2- 3) minutes then stir in stock and milk. Add salt and black pepper, to taste. Add less salt than normal because the sausage is salty. Bring the liquid to a slow boil; once it’s bubbling, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Using a stick blender, blend the soup in the dutch oven. If using food processor or blender, carefully transfer the soup from dutch oven to processor and pulse. If using stick blender the soup won’t be absolutely pureed and that’s okay for us; if you like yours very fine, pass it through a sieve.

Ladle soup into bowls and top it with cooked sausage. Adjust salt and pepper accordingly.

The soup was a hit and I'm glad I bought 4 ears of corn. I’ve got one left to boil and eat with butter.  Lunch tomorrow will be alone in my balcony enjoying the sun and the sweet sweet corn.