Crema de Flor de Calabaza

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 4-quart pot or clay cazuela
• •High-powered stand blender
• •Sharp knife for cutting corn off the cob
• •Kitchen scissors for trimming the blossoms
• •Tongs and a paper bag for charring the poblano

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the blossoms

   Work over a wide bowl. Pull the green stem off each flower at the base. Snip the pointed green sepals at the bottom of the petals with kitchen scissors. Open each blossom and pinch out the pistil, the orange stamen in the center, which turns bitter if you leave it. Tear any blossoms that have ants or wilted petals. Set aside six to eight of the most beautiful whole blossoms for garnish. Roughly chop the rest. This is the work. Do not skip it.

   Do not wash the blossoms under running water. They tear and turn to slime. If they need cleaning, lay them on a kitchen towel and brush gently with a soft brush or a damp paper towel.
2. 2

   Char the poblano

   Lay the poblano directly on a gas flame or under the broiler. Turn it with tongs until the skin is blistered black on every side, about six minutes. Drop it in a paper bag or covered bowl for ten minutes. The trapped warmth loosens the skin. Rub the skin off with your fingers, never under water. Pull out the stem, scrape the seeds, and slice into thin strips. These are your rajas.

3. 3

   Sweat the aromatics

   Melt the butter in a heavy 4-quart pot over medium heat. Add the chopped white onion with a pinch of salt and cook until translucent and soft, about six minutes. Do not let it brown. Brown onion gives the soup the wrong color and a sweetness the dish does not want. Add the garlic and cook for thirty seconds, just until you can smell it.

4. 4

   Add the corn and blossoms

   Stir in the corn kernels and cook for four minutes, until the kernels turn from chalky white to bright and tender. Add the chopped squash blossoms and the epazote leaves. The blossoms collapse fast. Stir them in and watch them wilt down into a tangle of soft orange ribbons in about two minutes. The mixture will smell green and faintly grassy, like a garden after rain. That smell is the flower telling you it is ready.

   Epazote is not optional. It is the herb that anchors this soup to Puebla and the central highlands. Cilantro is not a substitute. If you cannot find epazote, leave the herb out entirely rather than reaching for something that does not belong.
5. 5

   Build the soup

   Pour in the warm chicken broth and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for ten minutes, just enough for the flavors to settle into each other. Taste the broth. It should taste of corn and flower, with the onion in the background. Season with the salt and black pepper. Pull the pot off the heat.

6. 6

   Blend with care

   Reserve about a cup of the corn and blossom solids with a slotted spoon. This goes back into the soup whole for texture. Transfer the rest to a blender in batches, no more than half full at a time. Hold the lid down with a folded towel and start on the lowest speed. Hot liquid in a blender will lift the lid and burn you. Blend each batch until completely smooth, about a minute. Return everything to the pot, including the reserved whole pieces.

   An immersion blender works if you do not have a stand blender, but you will not get the same silken texture. The stand blender is worth the extra step.
7. 7

   Finish with crema

   Set the pot back over low heat. Stir in the crema mexicana. Do not let it boil after the crema goes in. Boiling crema breaks and the soup turns grainy. Warm it through, two or three minutes. Taste again for salt. The soup should be the pale gold-green of late summer, smooth on the spoon, and tasting clearly of the flower, not of dairy. Crema rounds, it does not lead. Así se hace y punto.

8. 8

   Serve in barro

   Ladle into warm clay cazuelitas or shallow bowls. Drape a few rajas of poblano across the surface of each. Set a reserved whole blossom in the center of each bowl, opened gently so the petals lay flat on the soup. Crumble queso fresco around the blossom and drizzle a thin spiral of cold crema on top. Serve with warm tortillas. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Buy the blossoms the day you plan to cook them. They last twenty-four hours in the refrigerator, maybe thirty-six, wrapped in a slightly damp cloth in a plastic bag. After that they wilt into nothing and you have wasted your money. If the mercado has them, you cook them.
• •The corn matters. Fresh elote off the cob, white if you can find it. Frozen corn is a compromise and the soup loses the bright sweetness that balances the flower. Canned corn is not a conversation worth having.
• •Use crema mexicana, not American sour cream and not creme fraiche. Mexican crema is thinner, less tangy, and pours like heavy cream. If you can only find sour cream, thin it with a tablespoon of whole milk and a pinch of salt before adding. It is a substitution and it is a compromise.
• •Do not blend the soup until it is satin. Leave a little texture, especially with the reserved corn and blossom solids stirred back in. A perfectly smooth puree feels like baby food. You want the cook's hand visible on the spoon.

Advance Preparation

• •The soup base can be made the morning of and held off the heat for up to four hours. Add the crema only when you reheat for service, gently, never boiling.
• •Do not make this more than one day ahead. The fresh flower flavor is the whole point and it fades fast. Leftover soup keeps for two days refrigerated but the brightness will not be the same.
• •The poblano rajas can be charred, peeled, and sliced one day ahead and refrigerated covered.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 300g)