Author Notes
This recipe is found within Victuals by Ronni Lundy (Clarkston Potter, 2016), a cookbook which explores the people, places, and food of Appalachia. The recipe itself is the brainchild of chef John Fleer, a Piedmont native, and it's “a simple riff on the hill tradition of eating crumbled cornbread in buttermilk from a tall glass.” The day-old cornbread thickens and gives body to this comforting soup that you’ll enjoy just as much hot in the winter as you will chilled come warmer weather. —Lindsay-Jean Hard
Ingredients
-
Peanut oil
-
1/3 cup
chopped leeks, white part only
-
1/3 cup
chopped celery
-
1/4 teaspoon
minced garlic
-
2 1/4 cups
chicken broth, plus extra if needed to thin the soup
-
1/2 cup
crumbled, day-old cornbread, plus extra for garnish
-
1 cup
whole buttermilk
-
3 tablespoons
heavy cream
-
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
-
Set a medium soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, and add enough peanut oil to coat the bottom. Add the leeks and celery, and reduce the heat to medium-low; sweat, stirring often, for about 5 minutes, or until the vegetables become lightly translucent without coloring. Add the garlic and cook for another minute; then add the chicken broth and cornbread. Bring to a low simmer, and let simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat.
-
Stir the buttermilk and heavy cream together in a large bowl. Very slowly add the hot soup to the milk mixture, stirring constantly, almost drizzling the soup in. Puree the soup in a blender or with an immersion blender until smooth. Taste, and season with salt and pepper as needed. If the soup is too thick for your liking, add a touch of extra chicken broth.
-
Return the soup to the pot and heat it very gently over low heat until it is hot. Serve with a little crumbled cornbread on top as a garnish.
-
To reheat any leftover soup, be sure to rewarm it slowly over low heat to prevent the buttermilk from separating. It's also quite delicious served chilled.
See what other Food52ers are saying.