Spiced sweetcorn soup with chipotle & feta

There are some vegetables with a naturally high sweeetness level that I struggle with. I have never enjoyed parsnips – the one vegetable I will happily push to the side of a plate and I can only eat sweetcorn in certain ways, either chargrilled or souped – featured here with a new recipe for spiced sweetcorn soup flavoured with chipotle chilli and garnished with salty feta.

Although you will never find a parsnip anywhere near my recipe archive, you are now able to find sweetcorn thanks to my latest supper club soup – spiced sweetcorn soup with chipotle and feta. Combining flavours that I love such as smoky spiced heat with salty, crumbly cheese and being able to share them with my supper club guests is always a pleasure. You can read all about the food at served at this event over at Surrey Kitchen.

The spicing  from smoky chipotle chilli paste is added once the soup is cooked as is the lime zest and juice to keep the flavours fresh and lively. Chunks of Feta cheese add a cooling note and its salty creaminess works brilliantly well here too. As this soup takes its influence from the flavours of Mexico, you could be really authentic and replace the Feta with queso fresco.

This soup was a hit with last week’s supper club guests along with the spring salad second course of broad beans, asparagus, radishes, rocket and herbed ricotta with a buttermilk dressing. I always start my suppers with a soup, either hot or cold depending on the time of year and will usually follow this with a salad of seasonal flavours and ingredients. Balancing the meal so that everyone still has an appetite for mains and dessert is something I have been learning on my supper club journey over the last two years although I still do have a tendency to splurge when it comes to the pudding. My favourite course to create can often lead to doggy bags ;))

Here are some more ideas of what to do with a glut of sweetcorn:

Black bean & potato salad with a sweetcorn avocado salsa

Sweetcorn & coconut cakes with corn cob jelly

Grilled miso butter corn & tofu 

Ham cheese & sweetcorn turnovers

Minions cornsicles

Sweetcorn & carrot fritters 

Corn spinach polenta triangles 

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Spiced sweetcorn soup with chipotle & feta cheese

A spiced sweetcorn soup with flavours of Mexico and lots of smoky heat from the chipotle chilli.

Course Appetizer, Lunch, Soup, Vegetarian

Cuisine Mediterranean

Keyword spiced sweetcorn soup

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 12

Author Laura Scott

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 onions roughly chopped
• 4 sticks celery roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic chopped
• 3 small sweet potatoes peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 kilo frozen sweetcorn
• Salt & pepper
• 1 litre vegetable stock/water
• 1 lime zest & juice
• 1 tbsp chipotle paste thinned down with a splash of water
• Chopped coriander dried/fresh red chilli & crumbled feta cheese for garnish

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat then fry off the onion, celery, garlic and sweet potatoes until softened which will take around 10 minutes
2. Add in the spices and continue to fry for a further 3 minutes
3. Pour in the sweetcorn, stir well to mix in the spices then add in the vegetable stock/water
4. Bring the soup to the boil, turn down to a medium heat and cook for 30 minutes
5. Blend the soup in a high powered blender then add in the lime zest, lime juice and the chipotle paste
6. Check the seasoning and serve the soup with garnishes of coriander, chilli and feta cheese

Recipe Notes

This soup can be kept in the fridge for a few days or it can be frozen in zip lock bags to enjoy at a later date.