Not that I needed much encouraging, but I’ve compiled a good number of older cookbooks over the years – early titles by authors I love, first editions, and such. When we ran the Quitokeeto shop I liked to have them around the studio so people could browse in person. An example would be a book like this one – Diana Kennedy’s Recipes from the Regional Cooks of Mexico published in 1978. It’s the sort of title I like to revisit, for inspiration in my own kitchen, but also to understand what inspired Diana Kennedy in the 1970s. One of the recipes she highlights is a green corn soup – Sopa Verde de Elote – which she describes as “unusual and delicious.” The recipe comes from Mi Libro de Cocina, published in San Luis Potosi in 1965. It’s really something special.
The color is a knockout – bright, vibrant green. And the flavor is surprisingly dynamic beyond the main base ingredients. There is the sweetness of corn and peas off-set by a spike of green chile, a finishing dollop of creme fraiche, and generous squeeze of lime. You get crunch from pepitas, fragrant green citrus notes from a shower of cilantro, and, as a bonus, it’s a soup that comes together quite quickly.
I mention it in the headnotes below, I’ve taken a few liberties with the recipe over the years, not something Diana would approve of, I’m sure. But the original recipe calls for tomatillos, which are easy to find at some points in the year, and not so easy at others. When I strike out with tomatillos, I do a version like this one, substituting zucchini. Different, but, I’d argue, equally tasty. xo -h
More Soup Recipes
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