Campbell’s Cream of Poblano

Okay, not really. It’s a purely reflexive modifier, owing almost entirely to my upbringing. No way I would have touched this stuff in 1970's Indiana, but you can take that as an indication of how good it is.

Feliz CINCO DE MAYO!


Cream of Poblano Soup

Blister the hell out three poblano peppers. If you’ve got gas burners, you can lay them right on top, though best to alert the household what’s up, or someone’s likely to call the fire department. Those things pop! I guess I would to, if someone tried to lay me on a gas burner. Good luck to you, if yours is an electric stove. You’ll probably have to build a bonfire or something. When they’re charred all to hell and back, seal ‘em up in a paper bag, and forget about them for 20 minutes.

Chop 1/2 a red onion nice and fine. You call that fine!? Mince me up a clove of garlic, Private, and when I say fine, I’m talking Chantilly lace!!!!

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter over low heat, add the onion and the garlic, and for pity’s sake, try not to subject them to the same cruel fate as the poblanos. They like a man with a slow hand, capiche? They like a lover with an easy touch. Three minutes and they’ll be eating out of the palm of your hand, provided you don’t eat them first.

Add 2 cups of milk and 1 cup of vegetable broth and by vegetable broth, I mean a little brown lozenge the size of a cough drop, dissolved in 8 ounces of water. (Remember 1974, how the powers that be insisted that it was only a matter of time before our system of weights and measures became obsolete? My poor parent’s were riddled with anxiety about it! I was like, “Don’t worry, Daddy, it’s all divisible by ten. I can show you what a centimeter is!” Talk about a tempest in a teapot. Or maybe it’s just a very slow implementation. Give the old people time to get used to answering machines and automatic tellers before we spring the deciliters on ‘em.

Whisk half a tablespoon of cornstarch into a half-cup of heavy cream. If you’re watching your waistline, I feel it’s my civic duty to inform you that that “light” cream is only 20 calories less per tablespoon (teaspoon, whatever) and no doubt goes to the same aerobics class as that hideous low-fat cream cheese that makes me want to run screaming into the arms of Dr. Atkins.

When your milk soup has attained a gentle simmer, dribble in the cornstarch mixture, whisking all the while, and if you could use a good hand job joke about now, scroll down to the homemade mayonnaise I made earlier in the week, because I only work blue when I’m in the mood.

Release the poblanos from their papery prison and slice them fine (I’m counting on you to know what that means by now.) Add them to the soup, along with:
1/2 cup of fresh or frozen corn kernels (I favor me the Cascadian Farm brand)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
& some fresh ground pepper


You know your kitchen's too dang small when you start storing honeydews on your burners.

Let it simmer for 15 minutes, before bowling it on up with some crumbled feta and chopped cilantro.

∞

Finicky children will be punished with strawberries.



food & drink