Shrimp and Corn Soup
This soup is relatively quick to prepare, and if you use some canned ingredients it comes together nicely in a wonderful tasting potage. Reminiscent of chowder, minus the potatoes, but if you added a couple cups of diced and blanched potatoes this would extend the volume and yield as well as change the flavor profile. The green chilies add some heat to the soup, and can also be obtained from using canned diced tomatoes with green chilies if desired.
Heck, even the French are not immune to using shortcuts in the kitchen, listen to this segment on “How to Cook French, With Shortcuts”, an interview with Dorie Greenspan, as featured on NPR radio yesterday, where she reveals how to make a French version of Sheppard’s pie, or Hachis Parmentier. Click the link above to read the interview, or you can listen into the interview which is embedded below.
You always have to remember that a culinary recipe is a guideline, as ingredients and quantities can be altered to a degree to suit individual flavors, tastes, and personal preferences. However, this does take some skill, but practice is the only way to gain the experience, and with practice comes confidence. For instance, this could become a crab and corn chowder, and when omitting the shrimp and tomatoes, but using crab meat and potatoes in direct substitutions, or 2 pounds cleaned crab meat, and 2 ½ cups diced and blanched potatoes. The timing of the ingredients would remain the same in this substitution.
Above, I said “culinary” as a distinction because pastry, bakery, and bread recipes are more of a science, and typically recipes must be followed much more closely to the ingredients, amounts, and times than do any other preparations.
Sometimes you want a recipe that allows you to have something on the dinner table in less than an hour, while maximizing your grocery dollar, and not costing you so much and this one takes about 45 minutes to prep, cook and serve. And if you halve this recipe you can save a lot more at the grocery, but altering the yield to only 8 servings. And at only 230 calories per serving, this one also saves you in the healthy energy category also. Now if you were to replace the shrimp in this recipe with crab meat, the cost and calories would change accordingly.
Monique made this recipe as part of my birthday dinner on Sunday. We celebrated my 30th birthday….for the 19th time! Along with the soup we had a salad of Mesclun Greens with Caramelized Onion, Apple, and Gruyere Cheese, and then finished with Stuffed Poached Pears, and these recipes will appear soon.
| Ingredients | ||
| 2 | Cups | Onion, chopped |
| 2 | Cups | Green bell pepper, chopped |
| 8 | Cloves | Garlic, minced |
| 1 ½ | Cup | Cream cheese, fat free, softened |
| 4 | Cups | Skim milk |
| 1 ½ | Cups | Creamed corn (or 1 15-ounce can) |
| 1 ½ | Cups | Whole kernel corn (or 1 15-ounce can) |
| 2 | Cans | Cream of mushroom soup, low-salt |
| 2 ½ | Cups | Diced tomatoes (or 2 10-ounce cans) |
| 1 | Can | Green chilies, chopped |
| 2 | Lbs. | Shrimp, 31-40 count, medium peeled and deveined |
| To taste | Salt and white pepper | |
| ½ | Cup | Green onions, chopped |
| Procedure Steps: | |
| 1. | Heat a large stock pot coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add the onion and bell pepper and sauté for five minutes, then add the garlic and continue to cook until soft. |
| 2. | Turn the heat to low, and add the softened cream cheese and stir until melted. Add the milk, corn, soup, diced tomatoes, and green chilies. Stir well and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 15 – 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. |
| 3. | Add the shrimp and stir well, allow the soup to simmer another 5 minutes or until shrimp are pink and cooked through. Season with salt and white pepper to taste. |
To Serve: Ladle 1 cup of soup into bowl and garnish with a pinch of chopped green onions.
Yield: 16 one cup servings
Another view…
Shrimp and Corn Soup
Bon appetite!
CCR
=:~)
©2010 CCR
16 responses so far ↓
1 kateiscooking // Nov 2, 2010 at 12:17 pm
argh – Connie won’t eat corn chowder in any way shape or form so I may have to make this just for myself because it sounds maginficent! Kate@kateiscooking
2 Boudreaux Ryan // Nov 2, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Kate,
Well you could make a substitution for the corn, maybe replace it with white corn, or omit it all together.
3 OC2Seattle // Nov 2, 2010 at 12:37 pm
This looks great! Can’t wait to try this soup out and ward off the cold Seattle weather 😉
4 Boudreaux Ryan // Nov 2, 2010 at 12:38 pm
Hey Sarah,
So glad to hear you can use this for warming up the inside, soup for the soul!
5 Torviewtoronto // Nov 2, 2010 at 1:31 pm
delicious flavourful soup
6 Faith // Nov 2, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Shrimp and corn soup are a perefect combo! I love all the falvours in this. Very falvourful 🙂
7 Cooking Gallery // Nov 2, 2010 at 2:57 pm
This sounds like a wonderful idea! I love creamy soup…!
8 5 Star Foodie // Nov 2, 2010 at 4:10 pm
This corn soup sounds so delicious with shrimp in it! I also love the addition of green chilies!
9 pegasuslegend // Nov 2, 2010 at 6:11 pm
what a nice match here, who would have thunk it? Wonderful flavors and itdea!
10 Mags@theOtherSideof50 // Nov 2, 2010 at 7:58 pm
“NO SOUP FOR ME!” (shellfish allergy) but hubby would adore this.
11 penny aka jeroxie // Nov 2, 2010 at 11:10 pm
soup soup soup! great for cold winter nights.
12 Magic of Spice // Nov 2, 2010 at 11:49 pm
Happy Belated 30th 😉 (sorry I was without my electronics over the weekend so I am behind)…
I read the interview, but will watch it as well.
This is a wonderful soup, and yes I can see all of the possibilities…what a list of ingredients 🙂
13 lubos // Nov 3, 2010 at 11:30 am
Hey Ryan, great photos! I am originally from Slovakia and soups are huge in our cuisine – pretty much every meal starts with them. Lunch is the main course of the day, and you start with soup, followed by the main dish – some goulash or chicken with rice, schnitzel, etc… I’ve been living in the US since ’94, and I definitely like the all kinds of food here – especially Cajun (gumbo and jambalaya, yum!). But one thing I never got used to are these thick soups. Slovak soups always runny – even chicken noodle soup is not much more than the chicken stock, with lots of fat circles swimming on top :), few noodles, one or two small pieces of carrot and parsley, and maybe an onion (See my grandma’s version: http://www.slovakcooking.com/2010/recipes/chicken-noodle-soup/).
I have always believed in “if you can’t drink it, then it’s not soup”
Happy 30th birthday, again!
14 Boudreaux Ryan // Nov 3, 2010 at 11:50 am
Lubos,
Great to hear from you on the soups post here today and I appreciate your comments. You mention gumbo and you know there are just about as many different variations on gumbo as there are folks who make them, from thin to thick. Some are broth like consistency, and typically these come from the countryside folks, and the thicker variations typically come from folks who live in the cities. I like all kinds myself, but I can understand why broth soups are as popular as they are easier to prepare, take less time, and cost less also.
Bon appétit!
15 Drick // Nov 3, 2010 at 2:38 pm
yep, I knew I was gonna like this one – love it actually … so many times in restaurants shrimp or crab soup/bisque seems as though the little critters just swam thru it, this one is certainly chocked full of good flavors…..
16 Kita // Nov 3, 2010 at 7:33 pm
This soup sounds delicious. I haven’t had much shrimp since my BF doesn’t like them, but Im sure I could sneak some in if it was small quantity and not the only thing on the table.