Sweet Corn Soup

• 10 ears sweet white or yellow corn (about 5 pounds)
• 3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 medium yellow onions, chopped
• Sea salt
• About 2 1/2 cups low-fat milk
• White or red pepper
• Cilantro leaves for garnish

Husk the corn, clean away the silk, and slice the kernels off into a bowl with a sharp knife. You should have about 6 cups of corn kernels. Put the corn in to a medium soup pot with the vegetable broth and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes. If you like, you can scoop out a cup or so of the corn kernels and save them to stir into the puréed soup.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a nonstick skillet and cook the chopped onions in it with a dash of salt over medium heat, until they are soft and golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Add the caramelized onions to the corn, along with the milk, and purée the soup in a blender, in batches, until it is as smooth as possible. You can use an immersion blender for this, but corn is fibrous and you’ll need to keep blending longer than usual. Have patience, and add a little more milk to thin the soup as needed.

If you like soup with a rustic texture, you’re done. For a silky, creamlike soup, it through a sieve: rub the pulp down with a wooden spoon until it is quite dry, then discard the fibrous pulp and return the soup to the pot. Taste it and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper; you can use white pepper or a pinch of red pepper, whatever you like. If you have reserved some whole corn kernels, add them back in now.

Bring the soup back to a simmer and serve it steaming hot, with a few cilantro leaves floating on top of each serving.