by Bianquita

Created on: November 14, 2008

Corn Chowder With Yucca Root and Cilantro
(serves 8)

Ingredients:

1 small yucca root, peeled, cored, diced and pre-cooked
8 cups of water
1 medium white onion, chopped
1 leek, cleaned and trimmed (watch out for sand, hidden between inner layers -if needed, take it apart and rinse each layer individually)
a few leaves of fresh sage, chopped up
2 or 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

the fresh corn kernels scraped off of 4 large ears, rinsed clean of debris and corn silk (or you can use the same amount of super sweet frozen corn, about 8 to 12 oz.)
1/4 cup rolled oats (optional)
sea-salt to taste
black pepper to taste (optional)
chopped, fresh cilantro leaves for garnish

Procedure:

1) Peel, cut and boil the yucca in enough water to cover, about 3 cups, until soft enough that you can pierce it with a fork, or about 15 minutes. Let it rest in its cooking water and set aside.

2) In a soup pot large enough to hold the entire soup, saute together the chopped onion, leek and sage, in the olive oil, until the onions become translucent, about 1 to 2 minutes.

3) To the same pot add the corn kernels, oats, if using, cooked yucca with its cooking water, sea-salt and black pepper.

4) Add enough cold water to reach 8 cups in total, or about 5 more cups. Bring to a boil, lower the flame, partially cover your pot with a lid and let your soup simmer for about 20 minutes.

5) Remove and blend about 1 /3 of the soup (careful not to burn yourself) then return it to the pot. Stir the whole soup very well, then taste it, to make sure it is seasoned to your taste. If not, you can add a bit of sea-salt, black pepper or even a teaspoon of turbinado sugar or maple syrup.

6) Garnish with fresh Cilantro and serve immediately.

Learn more about this author, Bianquita.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.