Summer Vegetable Soup with Hominy & Lime

Serves 4

With so few ingredients, this soup could easily become very boring very quickly, but…it doesn’t. While summer vegetables are meant to be added in as you see fit (lots of options below), the majority of the flavor and texture in this soup comes from a can in your pantry.

Hominy (also known as "pozole," famously used in the classic Mexican soup that’s called…pozole) gives this soup an irreplaceable, pleasantly bouncy, chewy texture and a toasty corn-chip flavor. While it traditionally anchors meat-forward dishes and stews (like…pozole), canned hominy is good to have around for quick, brothy soups, especially of the vegetarian sort. I love cooking it from dried (which I WILL soak, as it takes much longer to cook than beans), but for anyone looking to explore hominy as an ingredient, the already-cooked kernels in a can are a great (and easy) introduction.

As for the vegetables, you can throw in a variety of whatever bounty you find yourself with. That said, if you pick two, go with barely cooked corn (which can be fresh or, honestly, frozen) for tenderness and a delicate sweetness and lots of zucchini, cut into large chunks to sort of braise and soften in the broth (making this my all-time favorite way to use up and eat "how can there be so much" zucchini).

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 large yellow or white onions, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• ¾ teaspoon ground cumin
• Kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper
• 1½–2 pounds zucchini or other summer squash, cut into large chunks
• 1 jalapeño, very thinly sliced (seeds in or out, your preference)
• 8 cups vegetable or chicken broth (or water plus Better Than Bouillon)
• 2 15-ounce cans hominy, drained and rinsed
• 3 ears corn, shucked and kernels removed (about 2½ cups corn kernels if using frozen)
• 1 bunch cilantro, finely chopped
• 2–4 limes, halved for squeezing over

Preparation

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add about three-quarters of the onion (reserve the rest to add at the end), the garlic, and cumin and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened and starting to brown at the edges, 5–8 minutes.
2. Add the zucchini and half of the jalapeño and season again with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini has started to soften and brown around the edges, 8–10 minutes.
3. Add the broth, hominy, and corn and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini has completely softened and started to break down a bit (without totally turning to mush), 20–25 minutes.
4. Add the remaining jalapeño and half of the cilantro. Season again with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and top with the remaining onion and cilantro and serve with limes for squeezing over top.

DO AHEAD: This soup makes fantastic leftovers, kept in the fridge for up to 3 days (without cilantro or lime) or frozen several months ahead.