Chilled Poblano and Tomatillo Soup with Sweet Corn

I’ve never been a huge fan of chilled soups, but lately they’ve had my full attention. A couple weeks ago I tried a new chilled cucumber soup, and this past week I was inspired to start working on this tomatillo soup. 

I expect it probably has a lot to do with the heat, but I promised I wouldn’t spend all summer talking about that.

Let’s focus on the soup. 

After making a commitment last week to break out of our dinnertime rut, I picked up a generous amount of chile peppers and tomatillos at the market. I knew that I wanted to roast the tomatillos with some poblanos, but I wasn’t sure about how to bring the soup together, until I found the corn.

Yes, let’s talk about sweet corn for a minute. Did you know that there are drive-thrus for sweet corn? We have one here and its sole purpose is to allow one to drive up, buy the number of ears you want and drive away with the backseat full.

I restrained myself on the first trip, but after finishing those ears and learning they are only open until the 4th of July, I think I’m going to go back for the freezer special. I think it was buy 4 dozen, get one free. I seriously think I could eat a couple dozen by myself. It is as good as the corn from my Dad’s garden when we were growing up. 

So anyway, corn had to go in it. 

Okay, first, the roasting. That really brings out best flavors in things like poblano peppers and corn, in my opinion. Yes, you have to heat up the oven, but it makes the recipe super, super simple. I just throw it all on a sheet pan, roast and then let the blender do some work. Once it simmers for a bit, it’s ready to eat or chill. 

I really had no idea if this tomatillo soup would be good chilled, so as extra insurance, I just made sure all of the ingredients would be good as a warm soup. That way I knew we’d have the freedom of heating it up or eating it cold, whichever tasted better. The only difference with the cold version is a little Greek yogurt stirred in which gives it a bit of a creamy consistency. 

It turns out chilled is the way to go. I reserved a little corn to sprinkle on top with some cilantro. An easy lunch, no warming up required. 

What you’ll need:

4 large tomatillos, quartered
2 large poblano peppers, cored and roughly chopped
Kernels from 2 ears of corn
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
4 cups unsalted chicken or vegetable stock
1 teaspoon fine ground sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground corriander
1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle chile powder
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
Cilantro for garnish

How to make it:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. 

Place the tomatillos and poblano peppers to one side of a large baking sheet. Place the corn to the other side of the baking sheet. Drizzle all of the vegetables with olive oil. Stir gently, careful to keep the corn mostly separated from the tomatillos and peppers. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to brown and soften. The tomatillos will likely be a bit mushy. 

Reserve 1/2 cup of the corn kernels. Transfer the tomatillos, peppers and rest of the corn to a blender. Puree on high until smooth, about 60 seconds.

Pour the pureed soup into a medium soup pot and add the stock. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Stir in the salt, black pepper, coriander and chipotle pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in half of the reserved corn. 

Remove from the heat and refrigerate the soup until well chilled, at least a couple hours. Before serving, whisk in the yogurt until smooth. Spoon into serving bowls, top with some of the remaining corn kernels and cilantro.