After receiving a dozen corn from my local CSA all summer, I was trying to come up with some new ideas. I always thought pictures of corn chowder in magazines looked yummy, but wasn’t sure all the cutting and shucking was worth it. However, the corn was piling up and I hate wasting food so I started looking around for some recipes. The recipe below is an adaptation of one I found from a blog called cookingclassy.com, which I “loosely” followed.
RECIPE:
- 6 ears of corned shucked with kernels cut from cob
- 6 cups of water (this was completely by accident; I meant to only add five)
- 1/4 cup flour
-
1 large shallot diced
-
2 jalapeños diced
- 1 clove garlic
-
5 slices of bacon
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup of heaving whipping cream
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme flakes
- 1 cup cheddar cheese
- pat of butter
My Modifications:
I did not want the entire dish to be a bowl of corn so I reduced the amount of corn from 8 to 6 cobs. I added water instead of chicken broth for more flavor. Along with the desire for more flavor I used whipping cream instead of half and half as called for in the original recipe. As a personal preference I did not add potatoes. I added jalapeños instead of chives because that was what I had on hand.
Directions:
I diced the bacon into small pieces, which I sauteed until crisp. I removed the bacon and added the onions and peppers for a few minutes until soft. Then I added the garlic for 30 seconds. I should have added the flour at this point, but was distracted and ended up pouring in the whole 48 oz. can of broth instead of five cups. To rectify, I quickly scooped out a cup of broth while still cool from the pot and stirred in the flour until dissolved and then added it back to the pot. I then added generous amounts of salt and pepper, the bay leaf, the corn, the thyme, which I simmered for fifteen minutes. Finally, I added the whipping cream and simmered for 5-10 more minutes before briskly stirring in the cheddar. I topped off the pot of soup with a pat of butter. I added a handful of bacon to each bowl of soup so that it would stay as crispy as possible whereas the original recipe called for the bacon to be cooked in the soup from the beginning.
RESULTS:
All agreed the soup had excellent flavor though it could have been thicker (due to my amateur mistakes related above). I was probably the biggest critic thinking it just too corny…yes, I know it is corn soup but I would have preferred less hunks of kernels. Maybe if I had blended it a bit or even added less corn? In any case, even though the family liked it and it would have been a great bowl of soup had I not been careless, I may make this about once a year.
Source (cookingclassy.com)
angelajwolfe 
