Matt & Ginja's Cold Corn Soup

Matt and Ginja Moseley are among the most skilled, imaginative and dedicated cooks in southern Louisiana, where excellent cooks are the rule and not the exception. When we first became friends more than thirty years ago, they seldom left home without their Cuisineart. I remember one house party in the early 1980s at their beautiful house on Avery Island where they spent an entire day preparing the most delicious quenelles I had ever eaten. But by the time Matt and Ginja arrived at the table bearing their glorious creation, they were almost too exhausted to eat. Their guests were not. We feasted while they nibbled and looked somewhat dazed. I recently reminded Matt of this wonderful meal that had taken so much out of them “That was the first time we ever made quenelles, he told me. “And the last time.”

The passage of time has taught Matt and Ginja how to pace themselves and how to produce delicious food that is less demanding and that requires fewer hours in the kitchen. The following simple recipe is a good example:

Ingredients

Six ears of corn, cleaned & scraped off cobs

Scrape off juices with back of knife

1 ½ cup yellow onions, finely chopped

4 cloves finely chopped garlic

8 cups chicken stock

Sour cream or crème fraiche

Crabmeat or scallops to garnish

Sauté onions until translucent in enough olive oil to lightly coat bottom of heavy pot

Add garlic and sauté

Add corn & corn cobs

Add chicken stock

Simmer 25-30 minutes

Remove corn cobs

Puree mixture

Strain, season with kosher salt

Chill, add crabmeat or cooked scallops to garnish



Serves 6

Ginja pre-quenelles, Avery Island