ROASTED CORN AND LANGOUSTINE SOUP

Ingredients

1 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp Olive oil
1 ea Onion, diced
1 ea Leek, well washed and diced
3 stk. Celery, Chopped fairly fine
1 lb Potatoes, peeled and diced
4 ears Corn, roasted on an open grill (See hint #1 below)
1 qt Chicken broth
2 ea Bay leaves
¼ tsp Cumin
¼ tsp Coriander
½ tsp Vanilla
1 lb Langoustine, shrimp, lobster or other sea food type that you like (See hint #2 below)
1 pt Sour cream or creme fraise
Black pepper and salt to taste

Hint #1: Husk and remove all of the fine hairs from the corn and wash it. Roast the corn over an open fire or on a gas grill turning the corn often. The fire should be medium to medium low in heat and some of the kernels will get blackened, but don't blacken them all. This should take 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the heat of the fire. Set the corn aside to cool and when you can handle it, hold each cob vertically on a cutting board and using a sharp knife cut the kernels off of the cob. Save the cobs and the corn for later.

Hint #2: Save any shells that you may have from cleaning the sea food. Wrap it in cheese cloth and tie it shut for use in the stock later. Cut the sea food into bite size pieces and save separately on a plate..

Method

Heat a soup pot on the stove.
Add the butter and olive oil.
Add the onion, leeks and celery to the pot. Stir and when the vegetable begins to sizzle in the pan, turn the heat down under the pan and stir occasionally.
Cook and saute for about ten minutes to bring the sweetness out of the vegetables, but keep the fire low or they will all burn.
Add the corn cobs, the sea food shells, the bay leaves, cumin, coriander, pepper, vanilla and the chicken stock to the pot and bring the pot to just under a boil, let it simmer for 1 hour.
The vegetables should be very tender by this time.
Remove the corn cobs, the bay leaves and the sea food shells and discard them, they have given their all by this time.
Add the potatoes and corn to the pot and cook for another 20 minutes.
Add the sea food to the pot, (I have also used a mixture of sea food with great results).
If the sea food is raw, allow four minutes to cook, if the sea food is already cooked, allow two minutes to heat. In any case, don't over cook the sea food or it will get very tough and chewy. Sea food does not have to be cooked to be tender, it's born tender. You just cook sea food to basically warm it.
Turn the fire off and add the sour cream or the creme fraise, stir and serve immediately.

This goes really well with some hot biscuit on a cool day. For an extra treat, try serving it with some warm hominy served in a side dish.

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