South African Corn & Tomato Soup

I came home yesterday utterly defeated, feeling like a complete failure and wrote an incredibly long and angsty post. I was prepared to hit publish, when I got distracted by the soup I've been wanting to cook for the past week and forgot all about it. The angst post will probably be revamped into something less rambly for the future, but this post will be about the wonderful soup that prevented me from whinging all over the blogosphere last night.

One of my unwritten "new year's resolutions" is to try a new food or recipe every week. Last week's unofficial food was radishes, which I've never eaten before but found to be delightful after a couple sneaked into my salad. I will likely come back to radishes in the future, once I locate a couple of recipes to try with them. Anyhow, as I mentioned in my previous entry, I am getting back on the horse when it comes to cooking and this soup was another push in the right direction. When I saw the recipe highlighted on the WW recipe section, I knew it was meant to be: I love corn, I love tomatoes, I love soup. Heaven.

South African Corn and Tomato Soup

• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 cup(s) onion(s), chopped
• 2 tsp kosher salt, divided
• 2 large tomato(es), beefsteak, ripe, cored, coarsely chopped
• 3 cup(s) frozen corn kernels, or fresh corn kernels from 4 cobs
• 14 3/4 oz canned cream-style white corn
• 12 oz fat-free evaporated milk
• 3 cup(s) canned chicken broth
• 1/2 cup(s) basil, fresh

Step-by-Step Instructions
(Thanks, Allison, for reminding me!)

• In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Add the onions and 1 teaspoon salt; cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are extremely soft (about 8-10 minutes)
• Stir in the tomatoes (and any other veggies); cook for 5 minutes more*
• Add both types of corn, milk, broth, remaining teaspoon salt and pepper; simmer for 15 minutes so the flavors can combine
• Separate into 1-1/4 cup servings and top each with about 1 tablespoon basil
• *Note: If you're gonna use veggies that take longer to cook, add them earlier than the tomatoes to accommodate

The ingredients are all pretty easy to find, though I couldn't for the life of me locate cream-style white corn - so I settled for cream-style sweet corn. That mixed with frozen sweet corn made the soup a bit on the sweet side, so if you want more savory go with a non-sweet frozen brand. The best thing about soups is how adaptable they are, and looking at this recipe I thought it needed a little extra oompf, so I added:

• 1 tsp chipotle chili powder
• 1 tsp dried sweet basil
• 1 cup white mushrooms, broken up

Very little prep is required, which is a bonus if you're in a crunch for time. I sliced off my tablespoon of butter from the stick then put it back in the fridge until I was ready, then set to chopping the tomatoes. I'm pretty terrible at chopping/slicing/etc., so this was a fairly brutal massacre that I'm thankful nobody but the cat witnessed. I think our knives need to be sharpened, which probably factored into why I had so much trouble. But, I succeeded and soon had a bowl-o-tomato bits to do with as I pleased.

Mmm, slaughtered. Just the way I like 'em.

Now, if you're not a filthy cheater like me and don't buy a bag of pre-chopped onions from the Wegmans fresh foods section, you'll also have to chop up 1 cup of onions. I'm guessing that'd be about half an onion's worth, but I'm not really sure so... do half and then see where you're at? After that, all that's really left is making cute little ribbons out of the basil.

It sounds potentially difficult and time-consuming, but really isn't! I watched a little demo video on WW, but you get the benefit of my instructions - with a handy chart!

(Why, yes, I will take any flimsy excuse possible to mess around in photoshop.)

1. Stack about 10 basil leaves on top of one another. Since this'll be used mainly for edible decoration, it's up to you how much basil you want to use. I only used about 7 leaves because I was the only one going to be eating. You can get basil leaves prepackaged, I believe, but we just buy a basil plant and keep it healthy as long as possible - it's really cheaper that way.
2. Roll the stack tightly. Kinda like you would a blunt, I jokingly told my coworker this morning. (I'm being quite honest when I say I wouldn't know from experience.)
3. Hold the roll tightly with one hand and use your knife to slice crosswise. Pretty much like you would slice a baguette. I suggest starting at the end where the stems are so you can cut them off first.
4. Loosen the ribbons with your fingers. Ta-da! That was super easy, wasn't it? And look, how pretty they are :)

So, once you've finished the aforementioned prep and have your measurements ready, you'll want to stick a (large) medium-sized saucepan on the stove and turn the heat on medium-low. Definitely err towards a larger pan, btw - I chose the second largest we had and just barely had room for everything. You might want to just go for a pot and save yourself the worry. Let that heat up for a touch, then toss your 1 tablespoon of butter in and melt it.

Once the butter is melted, toss in your cup of chopped onions and 1 teaspoon of kosher salt. Mix everything together and cook until the onions soften. The recipe suggests 10 minutes, but mine were definitely soft by about 8, so just keep an eye on them.When the onions are softened, add your tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes or so. If you've got other vegetables to add, depending on what they are you can decide when to throw them in during this process. Since mushrooms don't need a lot of cooking time, I threw them in about 3 minutes after the tomatoes.

When your veggies are done, combine the remaining ingredients except for the basil ribbons and mix it all together. I suppose it doesn't really matter on the order, but I did both corn types first, then the milk, chicken stock and finished with the remaining 1 tsp kosher salt and spices. If you're going to add your own spices, I highly suggest spooning some of the broth into a cup and testing on that first. I was pretty sure the chili powder would go over well because we cook with it a lot, but it's easy to screw something up by adding a weird spice (I speak from unfortunate experience).

I meant to take another picture, but forgot. I promise I stirred this mess.

Once you've got everything in, let that simmer for about 15 minutes (you might need more, took mine a while to simmer). This recipe yields about 8 servings of 1-1/4 cups soup, and you can top each serving with a sprinkling of basil ribbons for a tasty finish.

I heart these bowls <3

Nutrition info: 5 weight watchers points | 162 calories | 27g carbs | 3g fat | 6g protein | 12g sugar | 677 mg sodium

It's a bit high on the sugar and sodium, but that could probably be altered if you went with a lower-sodium broth and used less sweet corn than I did. Still, not bad at all for a soup that is quite filling and would work well for all seasons. I'm definitely going to make it again, and I think next time I'll play with it some more and maybe add chicken or shrimp. Let me know if you try it!

So, to wrap this entry up, I've struggled a bit this week. I didn't go to zumba yesterday because I wasn't feeling well and felt like a complete loser because of it. Not healthy thinking, I know, but I just felt like I had let myself down. I love the Tuesday class so much, and it felt wrong not to push myself through it. But I picked myself back up today and not only ate well, but went to the gym after work and got a really nice bit of cardio done. And I'm heading to tomorrow's zumba class to make up for missing the one last night.

All in all, today was a success that made up for yesterday's suck and that's really the best I can hope for. Now, to indulge in some trashy TV before bed! My mother is visiting tomorrow, which should be a hell of a time.