Grilled Corn and Poblano Pepper Soup

I love soup. So does Craig.

Tonight we had a soup I devised while shopping at the Columbia City Farmer's Market.

It worked like this:

Husk and clean 6 ears of sweet corn. Grill them, basting them all the way with melted butter. When they are well-browned, cut the kernels off the ears and into a large soup pan.

Wash and then grill about two or two-and-a-half pounds of poblano peppers until well-blistered. Remove and discard the stems and seeds from the peppers. Completely puree the cleaned peppers in the blender with two cups of half and half. Add this mixture to the soup pan with another two cups of half and half.

Bring to a low simmer. Season with salt, cumin and oregano (preferably Mexican oregano). Simmer for 10 or 15 minutes until flavors are well combined. Serve with croutons (see below) and fresh, chopped tomatoes - ours tonight were Amish Paste tomatoes. Very rich.

CROUTONS

I made the croutons from bread I'd made last night specifically for this purpose. The bread was a wheaten cornmeal/rosemary bread that I'd seasoned liberally with cumin, oregano and hot Spanish Paprika (yes - the smoked kind). I toasted and then cut the bread into smallish cubes, and tossed these in a hot, oily pan with a lot of crumbled Kotija cheese. Kotija doesn't melt but it does brown and stick somewhat to the bread. I scraped all the brown crumbs of cheese from the pan and served those as well.

There was heat from the peppers; sweetness from the corn and tomatoes; crunch from the bread and corn; richness from the half and half and the brown butter made in the corn-grilling process; a sort of salty sponginess from the cheese. As a dish, it was earthy and vegetative - mostly it was green. It was caramel and spice. It was hearty.

For dessert we're having fresh raspberries and vanilla ice cream.