Cookbookin’: The Rousseau Sisters' Creamy Trini Corn Soup & Cheesy Corn Bread

As the cooler temperatures begin to take hold, I begin to look for ways to distract myself from the fact that another summer has come and gone. But another season is gloriously on the rise: SOUP SEASON. Time to light some candles, get cozy, and set up a pot of steaming, bubbling comfort!

Caribbean soups are perfect for this time of year. They’re hearty, rich in spices, and usually they’re really simple. I had a bunch of corn (which was TREMENDOUS this summer - the farmers market was overflowing with the sweetest corn I’ve had in a while) taking up space in my crisper drawer because my eyes were larger than my tummy last week and I wondered how I could get the best out of them. Enter Michelle and Suzanne Rousseau’s Provisions: The Roots of Caribbean Cooking -- 150 Vegetarian Recipes.

The Jamaica based Rousseau Sisters have been in the biz for twenty five years exploring and celebrating the nuances of Jamaican and Caribbean cuisine. Provisions is one part cookbook and one part history text, filled with lush turns on familiar favorites and an in-depth look at the staple ingredients that comprise the Caribbean kitchen. The recipe for their Creamy Trini Corn Soup caught my eye not just because of my corn situation but because the ingredient list reminded me of a soup that my mom would make when I was younger. It was creamy, a little sweet, and warm with a creeping, yet gentle heat. Just what a Yardie (a term that can mean many spicy things haha, but most commonly refers to working class Jamaicans) like me needs to warm up on a rainy day. In the book, they suggest serving the soup with a slice of Cheesy Scotch Bonnet Cornbread - obviously, I had to make that as well.

I got all my corn prepped, shucking the ears, cutting off all the kernels, and scraping the remaining milky goodness from the cobs. The next step I took isn’t in the recipe, but something I do because my mom does it - I make a corn broth from the cobs (corn bones!). The recipe calls for two and a half quarts of water, so I measured out three to account for evaporation, and I simmered the cobs until I had the amount of water I needed (bring it to a boil first, as if you were making stock from meat). You don’t have to do this, but I want to get every bit of flavor I can out of the corn cobs before they become destined for compost.

While the cobs simmered, I chopped up all of my veggies and aromatics: garlic, onion, potatoes, carrots, celery, thyme, scallion and Trinidad pimento*.

*Note 1: If you don’t live in a neighborhood that carries Caribbean produce OR grow your own peppers OR know very lovely humans that grow a lot of Caribbean peppers (the latter applies to me), you might not be able to find this. It’s a really fragrant and sweet pepper that doesn’t have too much heat. It’s also referred to as “seasoning pepper”. You could prob substitute a bell pepper here.

I cooked down the onions and garlic, then added in all of those chopped veggies. Then after I got those warmed up, I added in my corn broth, and some yellow split peas. Just from these ingredients alone, you know this soup is gonna be THICC. Some coconut milk adds richness and a whole (uncut please!) Scotch bonnet pepper* will add richness and heat. I let all of that simmer for about forty-five minutes, or until the peas get soft.

*Note 2: I usually don’t have a problem finding Scotch bonnets in my neighborhood, but they’ve been hard to get of late. I substituted their cousins, habaneros, here in the soup and the cornbread; they’re less fruity and more SPICY.

Once the peas were done, it was time to add the corn kernels and some chopped fresh cilantro, and those cooked for about twenty-five minutes. You want the kernels tender, but not mushy. I started salting and peppering around this time - all of these things need it!

Now, I usually use a stick (immersion) blender to puree soups, but as I forgot to do this in my big ass stockpot, I blitzed the soup in batches with my regular blender (THIS STUFF IS HOT SO BE CAREFUL). I used about half of the spent habanero in the mix because I am a weenie who loves heat but doesn’t want to burst into flames.

Oh! To switch to the cornbread for a moment - it’s a pretty simple buttermilk cornbread recipe but with added orange zest, Scotch bonnet peppers, and aged cheddar cheese. The orange zest combined with the hot, floral pepper - whew. What a smart flavor combo!

In the cookbook, the soup is dressed with avocado chunks that have been tossed in lime and salt. John isn’t a fan of them, and I was too lazy to run out and pick one up for myself, lol, so I just used the rest of my chopped cilantro and salt. Look at this double corn realness right here!

This soup ticks all of the boxes: filling, delicious, comforting, and it gave me a little taste of home that I didn’t realize I was missing. All hail SOUP SEASON!