Mexican Cream of Corn Soup

Winter is not over. Anyone living on the east coast knows this all too well. The weather is so awful that lots of folks have been stuck inside for days. With a well-stocked pantry, you can make this soup. It's quick, done in under an hour. It's easy, mostly about opening cans. It's rich, but not really. The creamed corn thickens the soup, fooling you into thinking this is richer than it really is. It's a comforting bowl of creamy chunky tomato soup.

You can use regular canned tomatoes or Mexican tomatoes. Mexican tomatoes have roasted green chiles added, which I love. If you don't like spicy, they even make a mild version that gives you the flavor of green chile without the heat.

Mexican Cream of Corn Soup
(serves 6)

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
½ cup diced red pepper (frozen or fresh)
2 Tablespoons dried minced onions (see Note)
1 14-15 oz. can diced Mexican tomatoes (mild or medium)
1 14-16 oz. can cream-style corn
2 cups vegetable broth + ½ cup water
½ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup minced cilantro or parsley + more for garnish
5 oz. can evaporated whole milk
5 oz. skim milk (use evaporated milk can to measure)

Heat oil in a small soup pot over medium heat. Add the garlic and red pepper. Cook for a couple of minutes until red pepper softens. Add dried onions, tomatoes, cream-style corn, broth, water, oregano, black pepper, salt, and ¼ cup herbs. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to low and add evaporated and skim milk. Heat to serving temperature but do not boil because the milk will separate (it's still edible if this happens but the soup won't be smooth). Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed. Garnish with more minced herbs, if desired.

Note: This is a pantry recipe so we use dried minced onion. But, if you have a bit of fresh onion, mince it and toss it in with the peppers and garlic at the start and omit the ½ cup of water.

Adapted from Mexicali Corn Soup in The Vegetarian Gourmet's Easy International Recipes by Bobbie Hinman, Surrey Books, 2001.

Stocking Your Pantry

What do you need in your pantry - that is, the ingredients you always have on hand? I've seen a lot of lists. Some of them go on for pages. Obviously, the people who came up with these lists weren't on a strict budget. Nor, do they take into account what you really like to eat. There is no point in having polenta in your pantry if you don't like polenta.

We also think you need to think about what you like to eat when it comes to ethnic food. As we discussed in our post on stocking your pantry with herbs and spices, you shouldn't spend much money on ethnic ingredients you have never tried and therefore may not like. If you don't like Thai food, you have little need for fish sauce or coconut milk. If you don't like Thai food, you probably don't like fish sauce or coconut milk!

Here's our list of basic pantry staples. Everything on this list is shelf-stable, which means they require no refrigeration (except the Mayonnaise which needs to be refrigerated after opening). We are assuming that you have no food intolerances or food allergies. That will undoubtedly change your pantry quite a bit.

You don't need to get everything on this list at once. Since they are shelf-stable, you can buy a subset one week, then add to it the next week and the next week. As you use things up, restock to make sure you always have them on hand.

All-Purpose Flour: for baking, thickening, and breading ($1.49 for 5 lbs.)
Sugar: white sugar is the most versatile with brown sugar coming in second (1.99 for 2 lbs.)
Salt: we like kosher salt because the large crystals are easy to pinch and use for seasoning but most recipes assume you are using table salt when they give measurements. Salt is cheap so get both. (kosher: $3.29 for 3 lbs., table: 48¢ for 28 oz.)
Pepper: Black pepper ground fresh from a pepper mill is the most flavorful and aromatic but a good pepper mill is an investment. Get a small quantity of ground black pepper at a time (you can find it in bulk in many markets these days) and it will stay potent. ($2.59 for 1.75 oz.)
Dijon Mustard: it's the most useful in cooking as it packs a good mustard punch. Spicy brown mustard is not a bad substitute most of the time. Yellow mustard is too mild but it's great on hot dogs! ($1.69/12 fl. oz.)
Red Wine Vinegar: the basis for vinaigrette and for adding acid to many dishes. There are many varieties of vinegar but you should start with Red Wine Vinegar. ($2.69 for 12.7 oz.)
Extra-virgin Olive Oil: we like it for vinaigrette and for cooking. If you want to economize, buy a small amount that tastes really good for your vinaigrette. Many markets, such as Whole Foods, now sell it in bulk. If you buy it in larger quantities, keep it out of light and away from the heat. It will go rancid fairly quickly. ($4.29 for 8.5 oz.)
Vegetable Oil: this is for higher heat cooking where Extra-Virgin Olive Oil will break down but it can be used all the time as it is much cheaper. The flavor is very bland but for people who don't like the peppery flavor of Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, that's just fine. Lots of choices here but we like peanut oil, safflower oil, soybean oil, and corn oil. Canola oil is popular too. (Canola or Soy oil: $2.97 for  48 oz., corn oil is $4.69 for 48 oz.)
Pasta: one tubular type like elbow macaroni or penne, and one long type like spaghetti or linguini. ($1.25 per pound)
Rice: long-grain rice is the most widely used. If you like brown rice, that should be in your pantry too. ($1.59 for 2 lbs. white, $1.59 per pound for brown rice)
Beans: either dried or in cans. Lots of different varieties and a small investment. If you don't want to bother with soaking and cooking dried beans, stick to the canned. They are still really cheap food relative to other protein sources. Lentils cook quickly so you won't find them in a can, only dried. (most canned beans are 69¢ to $1.00 for 15 oz. though chickpeas are more, $1.29 per 15 oz. can)
Canned tomatoes: whole or diced peeled tomatoes are the basis for pasta sauces, soups, and braising liquids. Canned tomatoes are riper and more tomato-y than fresh plum tomatoes most of the year. (69¢ for 14.5 oz.)
Stock: chicken is the most versatile. Its mild flavor can be used in lots of recipes such as the liquid for cooking rice, and most soups and sauces. If you are a vegetarian, substitute vegetable. The concentrates are a great value. (Stock in a box: $3.19 for 48 oz., $4.39 for 8 oz. of Better than Bouillon® concentrate that makes the equivalent of 9 ½ boxes of stock.)
Mayonnaise: for salads dressings, as a binder, and a cold sauce. ($2.89 for 10 fl. oz.)
Soy Sauce: a stir-fry essential ($1.34 for 10 fl. oz.)
Hot Sauce: if you like. If spicy scares you, you don't need it, but it's essential for us. :-)

If you buy everything on the list, it adds up to about $35. That is based on prices in my local supermarket, using no sale prices. Not an insignificant sum of money, but if you spread it over a few weeks, a great investment in future cooking!

Keeping Brown Sugar Soft

In our last post on apple crumble, we used brown sugar. Brown sugar frustrates many a cook since when it dries out, it solidifies into a useless lump. Here's some advice on keeping it soft and "refreshing" it, should it turn into a useless lump in your pantry.

First, store it properly. Keep it sealed up in a plastic bag or a tight sealing air-tight container. You need to keep the moisture in the sugar. If there are holes in your plastic bag, even little ones, the moisture will evaporate and you have a useless lump of sugar.

What if you discover your brown sugar has dried out? If you don't need it right away, put the sugar in a tightly sealing air-tight container. Lightly wrap a slightly damp paper towel in some plastic wrap and place that in the container with the sugar. You don't need a lot of moisture to refresh the sugar. Too much moisture, and the sugar will dissolve. The sugar will slowly absorb the moisture from the towel, softening in the process. Once the towel is dry, the sugar should be soft again and you can discard the paper towel. If you keep it stored in an airtight container, it will stay soft a long time.

If you need the sugar right away, you can microwave it to soften it up. Put a cup of it in a covered dish and microwave for 30-60 seconds. If it isn't soft after a minute, try another 30 seconds. Watch it carefully because if it's microwaved too long, it will melt. If you use this method, and don't use up all the sugar you softened, you should use the damp towel method for the rest. After the sugar cools, it's going to solidify into a useless lump again.

Stocking Your Pantry with Herbs & Spices

Spices and dried herbs are a great way to add variety and big flavor to your food. But, pound for pound, they are expensive. You don't need much for each recipe but they are often sold in jars that provide enough for the average family for the next 4 years, by which time the herbs taste like dust.

Today, a few suggestions on how to economically stock your pantry with dried herbs and spices.

Find a store that sells dried herbs and spices in bulk. You only have to buy a little itty-bitty bag of whatever you need. You can often buy just enough for one recipe (particularly useful if you don't  know what that spice tastes like). You won't have spices and herb lying around forever, waiting to be used up. You are a savvy shopper who knows to buy just a little bit. Many supermarket chains are starting to carry spices and dried herbs in bulk. Both Kroeger's and Safeway in my area have bulk spice departments. Whole Foods and health food stores usually carry them in bulk too.

If you have never tried a herb or spice before, try to buy the bare minimum, not a whole jar. If you don't like tarragon, what are you going to do with the rest? Herbs and spices are about big flavors, so it's not like you can use it and cover up the basic flavor. You are just going to throw it away. So, think small.

Think about the kind of food you like to eat and purchase things that you know you'll use. Tempted by  glossy pictures of recipes, it's easy to select recipes that force you to buy a bunch of spices, adding big bucks to your food bill. We are all for being adventurous eaters, but it makes sense to focus on the types of food you like first and then slowly accumulate the more unusual things. Unless you expect to do a lot of East Indian cooking, don't go out and buy a whole jar of cardamom. This is also good advice when it comes to stocking your condiment pantry. Condiments are often expensive so pick recipes that use the same ones until you feel like you can justify buying new ones. You'd be surprised how far you can get with Dijon mustard!

Don't buy things that you don't like. That may seem obvious, but sometimes you don't know what you don't like about a cuisine. You just know you don't like it. Here is a list of some ingredients typical to a few cuisines and some descriptors of their flavor to help you out.

Mexican

• Cumin: earthy and smokey
• Chili Powder: a blend of cumin, oregano, and dried ground chiles
• Fresh Jalapenos: very green and hot
• Fresh Serranos: less green but very hot
• Chipotle chiles: smokey and very spicy
• Other Dried Chiles: various heat levels, generally a little sweet
• Cilantro: strongly herbal and to many, it tastes like soap

Italian

• Basil: complex with licorice, grass, spice
• Rosemary: piney
• Oregano: a little grassy, a little spicy. It's the distinctive herb in pizza sauce but it's also used in Mexican cooking quite a bit.

 French

• Thyme: piney and grassy
• Tarragon: licorice
• Lavender: very floral and can get soapy if you use too much
• Marjoram: similar to oregano but sweeter and spicier
• Shallots: like onions but a little milder and sweeter
• Sage: a little floral, a little medicinal

Indian

• Coriander: bright and citrusy. It tastes nothing like cilantro,  the leaves of the same plant.
• Cumin: earthy and smokey
• Cardamom: powerful, sweet and smokey, hints of citrus
• Turmeric: very earthy and bitter. It's the spice that gives curry powder its yellow color.
• Curry Powder: a blend of spices where the turmeric can be dominant. Brands vary so try to sniff before you buy to get one that appeals to you. If it smells mostly of turmeric, it's going to taste that way too.
• Black Mustard Seeds: hot, sharp, and peppery like arugula

Chinese

• 5 Spice Powder: a blend but the star anise, which tastes like licorice, is usually dominant
• Chiles: Chinese chiles are small and extremely hot
• White Pepper: the same seed as black pepper but its flavor is very different. Hot like black pepper but with a funky odor and flavor.
• Chinese Mustard: very pungent yellow mustard. This stuff will clear your sinuses like horseradish or wasabi.