Corn chowder #1

I had some leftover fresh corn from yesterday, so I decided to make a little corn chowder. This was just a tester sized recipe but it was delicious! I'll definitely make this again.

Serves 2, multiply as necessary.

1 tbsp. butter 1 tbsp. olive oil 1/2 onion, chopped 1 stalk celery, chopped 1 small carrot, chopped 1 garlic clove, minced 1 jalapeño, minced (seeds and ribs included, optional, see note below) 1/2 slice cooked bacon, chopped (optional) 1/8 c. flour 12 oz. water 2 tbsp. More Than Gourmet roasted chicken stock concentrate small potato, peeled and diced 2 ears of corn or 1 cup frozen corn kernels 4 oz. heavy cream salt freshly ground white pepper Tabasco sauce or other hot sauce (optional)

Here are the veggies prepped and mostly ready to go. There are 3 ears of corn there, but I ended up only using 2.

Add the butter and oil to a soup pan over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook for a few minutes.

Add the celery, carrot, garlic and bacon and cook for a few more minutes.

Add the 1/8 c. flour and cook for 5 minutes, stirring periodically. Here's what it looked like when done. (There's one slice of bacon in this picture, but the second time I made this I used half a slice, and that seemed like a more appropriate amount.)

If using jalapeño, add it after cooking the roux but before adding the water.

Add 12 oz. of water and the 2 tbsp. More Than Gourmet roasted chicken stock concentrate. Or you could use 12 oz. of actual chicken stock. Or substitute vegetable stock. Increase the heat to medium and bring to a boil.

Add the potatoes and bring back to a boil, then reduce the heat to a very slow boil. Cook the potatoes for 10 minutes.

This is 3 ears of corn and clearly too much. I used 2/3 of it, the 2 ears in the recipe. Maybe a cup and a half? I probably should have measured it! Update:The second time I made it I used 1 cup of corn and it worked well. You can add more if you want. It also works great with 1 cup of frozen corn.

Add the corn and cook for 5 minutes. If using frozen corn, increase the heat until it starts to boil again, then reduce back to a low boil.

Add the 4 oz. of cream and cook for 2 minutes.

Season with salt and freshly ground white pepper. Add a few dashes of Tabasco or other hot sauce, if desired.

This was delicious!

There are plenty of options, too.

Vegetarian: Omit the bacon and use vegetable broth.

Vegan: Vegetarian option, plus omit the butter and cream and it's not really so much chowder, but it would be a good corn soup. Double the olive oil if omitting the butter but still including the flour so there's enough fat for the roux to form properly.

Gluten-free: Substitute another thickener for the flour, or make it as a thinner soup.

I started with this recipe and this recipe , but the end result didn't really look like either.

Update December 20, 2014: I decided to make this spicier by adding a minced jalapeño, stemmed but seeds and ribs included, and it was excellent. I think I'll make it this way from now on!

Update October 11, 2015:It actually makes enough for 3 bowls of soup, especially if you serve it with something else, like a Caesar salad and roll.