Today was Jim's big extended family Christmas party. I always have such a hard time deciding what to bring to potlucks but for whatever reason this year I felt inspired: soup. I got a new crockpot with a latching lid for Christmas so it seemed like a good excuse to try it out (sadly, as it turned out it was defective and one of the latches broke off -- which we didn't discover until after it was too late to come up with a Plan B!). Several people asked for the recipe, and this seemed like an easy way to share it.
If I'd realized I was going to blog this, I might have taken something other than a single instagrammed picture of the soup! (That said, I'm not much of a food photographer. I don't have the patience for it, and I could NEVER do one of those blogs with step-by-step photos of recipe preparation.)
I'm very much a "handful of this, pinch of that" sort of cook -- especially when it comes to things like soup. Once I find a base recipe that I like, I'll tweak it based on my mood, the season, the ingredients I have on hand...whatever. "My" corn chowder started out life as "Corn Chowder with New Potatoes, Golden Peppers, and Basil" from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone but over the years I've done a bunch of different things with it.
1 large onion, diced small
1 carton (about 4 cups) of vegetable broth/stock
about 1.5 pounds of potatoes, diced into bite-sized pieces
1 bag of frozen corn
2 cups of milk
A couple handfuls (1-2 peppers) red, yellow, or orange bell pepper, diced
Bay leaf
Salt and pepper
Butter
Dried herbs: thyme and basil (I don't know how much...a few shakes of each!)
Fresh chives (optional, but yummy)
- Melt about 1/4 stick of butter (more if you're feeling crazy) in a soup/stock pot. Add the chopped onions, thyme, and bay leaf and saute until the onions are soft and translucent (but before they start to brown).
- Add the potatoes, broth, and a couple of big pinches of salt. Bring to a boil and then simmer until the potatoes are cooked through. Meanwhile, in a separate pan, melt another 1/4 stick of butter, and add the bell pepper. Cook on medium-to-low heat, stirring often, until the pepper is softened.
- Optional step: Once the potatoes are cooked through, use an immersion blender to partially puree the soup.
- Add the milk, corn, basil, and sauteed peppers, and heat through. Add finely chopped/snipped chives at the very end of cooking, if desired (or use them as garnish). Salt and pepper to taste.
A few notes on substitutions -- the recipe is pretty forgiving!
- I've used leeks and scallions in place of some of the onion a bunch of times (in fact, the original recipe calls for leeks). I also really like onion, so I often put in more than a single one.
- Everything's better with bacon: Today's version of the soup was vegetarian, since some of our family members don't eat meat, but I make this with bacon quite often. Chop 1/3-1/2 pound of bacon, fry till crispy, remove the bacon from the pan, and then use the bacon drippings instead of butter to saute the onions. Then add the crumbled bacon back into the soup at the end, just before serving.
- Potatoes: Whatever kind you've got! I've used regular old generic white potatoes, gold potatoes, fingerling potatoes, red potatoes (leave the skin on!), a combination of several kinds...it's all been tasty. Red potatoes add a nice bit of color.
- Corn: I almost always use frozen corn just because it's easiest, but needless to say it is REALLY tasty with fresh corn from the cob.
- Milk: I usually cook with skim or 1% milk because that's what we have around the house most frequently, but any kind of milk works. I often make this recipe when I have some half-and-half or cream left over that I don't want to waste (though I think it would be too heavy/rich with all cream -- today, for example, I used 3 parts 1% milk and 1 part heavy cream).
- I really like this soup with the peppers, but it's just as good if you leave them out.
- This makes a "soupy" sort of chowder. Partially pureeing it will thicken it somewhat, but you can thicken it further with a flour roux or with arrowroot starch.
This is total comfort food for me -- one of my very favorite things to make, especially on cold weekends. Throw in some garlic bread on the side (because what doesn't go with garlic bread?), and I am one happy camper.
On a completely unrelated note, except for where it's also food-related: apparently Ian has been trying his hand at food photography. I just found these photos on my phone.
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