Corn Chowder
The summer has been rather brutal around middle TN. Very hot. No rain. No breaks. It has consistently been in the mid to high 90s for months. Until it wasn’t. All of a sudden on Monday the temperature plummeted 30 degrees and it started to rain. Hallelujah! It has been chilly for a couple of days and I started craving soup.
I started playing with this chowder at the beach this summer. Not exactly weather appropriate but we had all of this fresh corn and I really wanted to try making some sort of soup. I saw a corn chowder recipe in Cooking Light earlier in the year and it was lurking in the back of my head (you’ll notice there is bacon and cream in this soup…obviously it didn’t come from Cooking Light). I’ve made this 3 times now and the results are quite yummy. Once the fresh corn is gone, I would imagine frozen corn would work (and cut out one of the steps). This isn’t the fastest recipe (a lot of the effort is prep) but it is worth the effort. Cook the corn the day before, cut it off the cob, and throw it in the frig to speed up dinner. Recipe adapted from The New Basics Cookbook.
Corn Chowder
4 strips of bacon, cut into small pieces
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
1 jalepeno, seeded and diced
2 Tbl butter
3 Tbl flour (if gluten free, use other thickener…if using cornstarch skip the above butter and mix it with cool water or milk and add after the broth)
1 32-oz carton chicken broth
3 medium baking potatoes, peeled, bite sized dice
6 ears of corn, cooked, kernels cut off
3/4 cup half and half
1 tsp black pepper
salt to taste (if not using reduced sodium broth taste before adding any)
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
4 green onions, sliced
2 or 3 Tbls sherry (I like a little more…Steve likes a little less)
In your soup pot, cook your bacon pieces. Throw in the onion, garlic, and jalepeno – allow them to cook in the rendered bacon fat until onion is softened. Melt butter then add flour. This will form a paste-y substance. Allow to cook for 5 min, stirring so it doesn’t burn. Start adding the broth until it is all incorporated. Add the potatoes. Cook 20-30 minutes until potatoes are almost done – time will depend on the size of your potato chunks. Add corn, half and half, salt and pepper. Cook another 10 minutes. Add red pepper, sherry, and green onions. Simmer another 5 minutes.
You can garnish with cheese but I like it as is. I’m going to enjoy it before the hot weather returns!
I was hoping you would post a recipe! I’ve been craving it ever since you mentioned it. I’ve got some going on the stove today, but I’m going the green chili and crab route with mine. Will try this one next week!
Ditto on what Priscilla said (literally, I started typing and looked up to see the exact same comment above)! Yum!
I love corn chowder. Frozen works great.
This recipe was &*%bleeping#%^ amazing…my entire family loved it! I substituted a roasted poblano pepper (from the garden) in place of the red bell pepper which gave it an awesome smokiness. Thanks for posting…I will use this recipe every fall.
I think I burnt my rue…..grrrrrr. I had no red pepper, no green onion, and no half and half, and I’m not sure if I have sherry. Sherry in corn chowder I ask myself? Why not….perhaps it will take away from the burnt taste of the rue lol. I’m using regular milk, which I know will need to cook longer……
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