(adapted from The Santa Monica Farmers' Market Cookbook by Amelia Saltsman)

This soup is comforting and perfect for the cusp of summer and fall. Serve with quesadillas filled with diced tomato and avocado for lunch or dinner.

Serves 6

For Soup:
10 ears corn, shucked
1 onion, minced
2 ribs celery, chopped
2 Tbls. olive oil
2 Tbls. butter
5 c. chicken or vegetable stock
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

For Topping:
4 dried chipotle chiles or 2 canned chipotle chiles
2 cloves garlic
1/2 c. fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 c. fresh lime juice
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 c. olive oil
1/3 c. Greek or creamy plain yogurt (optional)

Using the large holes of a box grater set in a deep large bowl, grate corn down to the cob. It is quite messy, but this soup must be made with fresh corn. You should have about 5 cups of milky corn pulp. In a large stock pot, saute onion and celery in oil and butter over medium heat until translucent and soft (about 7 minutes). Stir in corn and stock and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low, cover partially, and simmer until corn is tender and the flavors are blended (about 15 minutes). Leave the soup as is (it will have a little texture) or puree until smooth.

To make the topping, soften the dried chiles by placing them in a bowl and covering with boiling water for about 10 minutes then discard the stem and all of the seeds (the heat is in the seeds) Or use canned chiles, which are available in adobe sauce and quite spicy. Using a food processor, add garlic cloves and process until chopped, then add chiles, cilantro, lime juice and salt and process again and then slowly add oil (still with the motor running) until blended. This makes about 3/4 c. of sauce.

Serve soup in bowls drizzled with the chipotle-lime topping and topped with plain yogurt.