Corn and Cheese Chowder

Cheese.... corn.... chowder. These three words conjure up images of comfort food galore. This is also one of Micheal Smith's recipes. In the original, he used cornmeal... but since I don't know where the heck I'm going to find cornmeal, I substituted breadcrumbs. (mine were kinda rough cut because I made them myself.) see below how to make---


Traditionally, we associate the word chowder with clams or boston. But since clams around this parts are not that trustworthy, I opted to make a cheese and corn one, care of Micheal Smith.

Ingredients

• 8 slices bacon, chopped
• 2 large onions, peeled and chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 4 cups milk
• 1 cup 35% heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
• 4 ears corn, kernels removed or 4 cups of frozen corn (whole corn not creamed corn)
• 1 bunch parsley, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup or more of shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

 

1. Cook the bacon in a soup pot over medium-high heat until it is crisp and brown.(anything with butter or bacon ALWAYS tastes goooood..... as one chef told me, fat is GOOD... it is the one that give flavor to the dish)
2. Drain away about half of the fat (i think they thought half the fat would be better than using ALL of it..hahaha) in the pot then stir in the onions and celery. Sauté for a few minutes until the aromatic vegetables soften.
3. Add the milk and cream and heat through. 
4. Sprinkle in the breadcrumbs and stir well until the soup thickens slightly, about ten minutes.at this point, I added a bit of canned salmon, just to see how it will turn out.
5. Add the corn and continue cooking just long enough to heat it through. Stir in the cheese.
6. Taste then season as needed with salt and pepper. Stir in the parsley just before serving.

By the time the dish is done, the cheese would have melted really well and it would have turned REALLY thick. You can serve it as is but if you plan to serve it again, I suggest to add some water to it. (it thickens some more in the reheating). The heartiness of this soup is enough to fill you up (a meal in itself!) The breadcrumbs also added a surprise texture to it.
Remember the chowder you get in a bread bowl? You eat the chowder and you get bits of bread with each bite of the soup. THIS reminds me of that. I also liked the crunchiness of the corn with the burst of sweetness-- YUM!


This would be perfect for a cold rainy night, with a nice cold something (fill in the blanks for your choice of drink). It easy to do and you can always experiment on what to put!


Breadcrumbs: use day old bread, toast in toaster or oven till brown- put in your blender or food processor and mix till shredded. store in an airtight container till needed. (see, the old bread has some uses too! =))