Chef Christopher Lee offers this first course of chilled corn soup topped with a crisp crab cake and a drizzle of vibrant cayenne oil.
1hr
PREP TIME
40m
COOK TIME
388
CALORIES
25
INGREDIENTS
Servings: 8
Ingredients
- Sweet Yellow Corn Soup
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
- 4 cups water
-
3
cups
fresh
corn kernels
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Substitutions available
/ canned or frozen corn kernels
- 1 leaf McCormick Gourmet™ Organic Turkish Bay Leaves
- 1 whole star anise
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- Cayenne Oil
- 1 cup grapeseed oil
- 2 teaspoons McCormick Gourmet™ Organic Cayenne Red Pepper
- Lump Crab Cakes
- 1 pound lump crabmeat, drained and flaked
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons minced celery
- 3 tablespoons minced shallots
- 1 tablespoon snipped chives
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- Grated peel and juice from 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon McCormick Gourmet™ Organic Ground Cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon McCormick Gourmet™ Organic Coarse Ground Black Pepper
- 1/2 cup flour
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
INSTRUCTIONS
- 1 For the Corn Soup, heat oil in large saucepan on medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; cook and stir 2 minutes or until translucent. Add water, corn, bay leaf, star anise and salt. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer 25 minutes. Add heavy cream; simmer 5 minutes. Remove bay leaf and star anise
- 2 With center part of cover removed to let steam escape, puree soup in batches in blender on high speed until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve
- 3 For the Cayenne Oil, heat oil and cayenne pepper in small saucepan on low heat 2 to 3 minutes or until heated through. Place oil mixture in blender container; cover. Blend on high speed 3 minutes. Strain oil through coffee filter. Oil can be stored in refrigerator up to 1 month. (Recipe for Cayenne Oil may be halved
- 4 For the Crab Cakes, mix crabmeat, mayonnaise, shallots, celery, chives, parsley, 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel and 1 tablespoon lemon juice, cumin, salt and pepper in large bowl until well mixed. Refrigerate 30 minutes to blend flavors
- 5 Form crabmeat mixture into 8 crab cakes. Place flour, eggs and panko bread crumbs in separate shallow dishes. Dip each crab cake on both sides first into flour, then egg and finally panko bread crumbs. Remove any excess coating by gently patting each crab cake. Refrigerate 30 minutes
- 6 Heat oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add crab cakes in batches; pan fry 2 to 3 minutes on each side until crisp and golden brown. Drain on paper towels
- 7 To serve, place a crab cake in each wide, shallow soup bowl. Ladle chilled Corn Soup around crab cake. (Soup can also be served hot.) Drizzle soup with about 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Oil. Garnish with fresh chervil, if desired
