Corn Chowder

Today was a long day of festivities and food. I woke up at 7:30 (seriously daylight savings? seriously?) and couldn't fall back asleep. So I decided I might as well start my day by showering and grocery shopping. I prepped some stuff for my muffins I'm making tomorrow and then headed off to Bernie's Benefit Fundraiser. I won a lovely Christmas decor basket. Then, when I got home...it was cooking time! I am separating this into two posts so each recipe has it's own post. Tonight I made Corn Chowder and Margarita Cupcakes.


Corn chowder has so many ingredients....



But it's worth the smell of sauteing veggies and garlic.


And so worth this.

Corn Chowder
adapted from here

5 strips thick cut bacon, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
1 sweet onion, diced
2 carrots peeled and chopped
2 stalks of celery chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped
6 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
1/4 cup all–purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon chipotle seasoning
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (add more if you like some heat)
6 cups vegetable stock
2 cups heavy cream
2 Idaho potatoes, peeled and diced
6–8 ears corn (I used a bag of Trader Joe’s frozen Sweet White Corn)
2 cups cooked and shredded chicken (I used Trader Joe’s Just Chicken)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
Green onions, sliced for garnish (I used both the white and green parts)

In a Dutch oven, cook bacon over medium high heat until crisp; remove bacon with a slotted spoon and allow to drain. Reserve for garnish.

Reduce heat to medium. Add the onion, carrots, celery, garlic, jalapeño and thyme to the bacon drippings and cook until the vegetables are soft; about 8 to 10 minutes. Dust the vegetables with flour, chipotle seasoning, crushed red pepper flakes and stir to coat well.

Cook vegetables, flour and seasonings for 2 minutes; stir frequently.

Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Add the cream and the potatoes, bring to a rapid boil. Allow soup to boil hard for about 7 minutes, until the potatoes break down. This process will help thicken the soup.

Cut the corn kernels off the cobs and add to the soup. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add in the cooked chicken. Simmer until the corn is soft and chicken is heated through; about 10 to 12 minutes.

Stir in the parsley. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the reserved bacon and green onions.

I added in shrimp (thanks to a brilliant idea from Jaime who somehow knew I still had leftover shrimp from Erin's birthday...I think she sneaks into my fridge every night while I sleep.)

This was the first time I've ever eaten corn chowder, so I have no basis for comparison, but it's pretty awesome.

As a bonus to this post, I finally took some (horrible quality) pictures of sushi and things from last night's dinner. Behold....food from Karma.

Karma 3 Layers. Scallop and crab meat with spicy mayo topped with white tuna and special sauce. NEW FAVORITE.

Oysterssss. Still the best oysters I've had of all the places I've tried them. Better than Union Oyster House and Cedar's Steakhouse at Foxwoods.

Special Volcano Roll and Spicy Salmon Maki. Volcano roll is spicy tuna tempura topped with the crab and scallop mix with spicy mayo and cheese. And there's asparagus hidden in it. Spicy salmon maki is pretty self-explanatory.