Garlicky Corn Spinach Soup

This soup leans on three loud ingredients to do all the talking: fresh-cut corn, a generous hit of garlic, and bright green spinach added right at the end so it keeps its color and bite.

Slicing kernels straight off the cob is what gives this soup its sweetness. Frozen corn works in a pinch but you lose the milky starch that bare cobs release when you scrape them with the back of your knife. Don’t toss those cobs either, dropping one into the pot while everything simmers pulls extra flavor into the broth.

The spinach goes in only during the last two minutes. Any longer and you’ll get that olive-drab, slimy texture that ruined school cafeteria lunches for a generation. You want the leaves to slump but stay vivid green. A bouillon cube does the broth work here, but homemade chicken stock takes it up a notch if you’ve got some on hand.

Kitchen Tips

• Stand the corn cob upright in a wide bowl when you slice off kernels. The bowl catches the spray and the cob doesn’t slide.
• Scrape the bare cob with the back of your knife to pull out the milky starch. It thickens the broth slightly and adds sweetness.
• Salt is already heavy from the bouillon, so taste before adding the full teaspoon listed.

Variations

• Swap chicken bouillon for vegetable broth and the soup goes fully vegetarian.
• Add cubed firm tofu or shredded rotisserie chicken to bulk it up into a light supper.
• Finish with a squeeze of lime and fresh cilantro for a Mexican-leaning twist.