corn chowder | thebrookcook

Okay! Enough about birthday celebrations. I have to get back to my soup posts. 😉

I love the flavor of coconut milk and Thai cuisine in general. This dish is a wonderful adaptation of Thai flavors in the form of a soup. The coconut milk base gave it subtle richness which balanced nicely with the lime juice, fresh herbs, and hot sauce.

This recipe was adapted from The Moosewood Restaurant Table: 250 Brand-New Recipes from the Natural Foods Restaurant that Revolutionized Eating in America from the Moosewood Collective. Fabulous!

Yield: about 8 cups

1 T coconut oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onions (I used 1 large yellow onion)
1 fresh hot pepper, minced and seeded for a milder “hot” or 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 tsp coarse salt, plus more as needed
2 T peeled and grated fresh ginger
1 pound potatoes, diced (I used teeny tiny white potatoes from Trader Joe’s)
3 cups vegetable or chicken stock
3 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels (16 oz (1 pound) bag frozen organic yellow corn)
1 14-oz can unsweetened coconut milk
2 T fresh lime juice, from 1/2 of one lime
3 T fresh basil, chiffonade (Thai basil is bets, but Italian basil is fine too.)
hot pepper sauce or Chinese chili paste, optional
chopped fresh basil, cilantro, and/or mint, for garnish, optional

Warm the oil in a soup pot on medium heat. (I used an enameled cast iron Dutch oven.)
Add the onions and hot pepper/cayenne and cook for a couple of minutes.
Add the bell peppers and salt and cook, stirring often, until the vegetable soften, about 6 minutes.
Add the ginger, potatoes, and stock. Cover and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are almost tender, about 5 minutes.
Add the corn, coconut milk, lime juice, and basil and remove from the heat.
Using a slotted spoon, remove 2-3 cups of the strained vegetables from the pot.
Using a blender or an immersion blender, puree the remaining ingredients, about half of the soup.
Stir the whole vegetables back into the pot.
Season with salt to taste, and, if you want it spicier, add some hot pepper sauce or Chinese chili paste.
Garnish with lime, fresh basil, cilantro, and/or mint, if desired.

One Year Ago:

Cheesy Corn Casserole

Two Years Ago:

Three Years Ago:

Four Years Ago:

Five Years Ago:

Creamy Tomato Soup with Egg “Noodles”

Creamy Corn Chowder

Wow. This was delicious. A real celebration of summer farmstand corn. My local farmstand happens to have absolutely wonderful bi-color corn which I used for this special chowder.

A fresh corn broth is made for the base of this soup. It incorporates the corn cobs, shiitake mushroom stems, herbs, as well as parmesan rinds. I think it really makes the finished dish extraordinary.

I adapted this recipe from Bon Appetit, contributed by Rick Martinez. I lightened the recipe by using half and half instead of heavy cream. I also used home-grown jalapeños instead of Fresno chiles and parsley instead of marjoram. I doubled the garlic too, of course. 😉 Fabulous!!

Yield: Serves 8

8 ears of corn
2 Parmesan rinds (about 4 ounces)
4 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and reserved, caps cut into ¼-inch pieces
2 sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf
coarse salt
5 T unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup dry white wine
4 ounces thick-cut bacon, cut into ¼-inch pieces (I used 3 thick slices)
1 pound russet potatoes, peeled, cut into ½-inch pieces (I used 1 1/2 large potatoes)
3 shallots, thinly sliced
1 medium leek, white and pale-green parts only, quartered lengthwise, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, finely grated or minced
2 Fresno chiles or jalapeños, seeded, finely chopped
2 T all-purpose flour
2 cups heavy cream or half and half
1 T chopped marjoram or parsley, plus more for serving
oyster crackers, for serving, optional

Cut kernels from cobs and place in a large bowl. Reserve cobs.
Place cobs in a medium pot and add Parmesan rinds, if using, mushroom stems, thyme, bay leaf, 2 tsp. salt, and 8 cups water.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until broth is fragrant and reduced by half, 40–50 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl; discard solids and set broth aside.
Meanwhile, heat 4 T butter in a large heavy pot over medium-high.
Add corn kernels, season generously with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until corn is tender and juices have evaporated and browned on the bottom of the pot, 12–15 minutes. Reserve ½ cup corn for serving; transfer remaining corn to a medium bowl.
Add wine to pot and cook, scraping up browned bits, until liquid is syrupy, about 2 minutes. Scrape into bowl with remaining corn.
Heat remaining 1 T butter in same pot over medium and cook bacon until golden brown and fat has rendered, about 6 minutes.
Add potatoes, shallots, leek, garlic, and chopped mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables have softened but haven’t taken on any color, 12–15 minutes.
Add chiles and cook until fragrant and softened, about 3 minutes.
Stir in flour and cook until nutty and fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add reserved broth, bring to a boil, and cook, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are fork-tender, 10–15 minutes.
Add half and half (or cream) and corn mixture and cook, stirring, until chowder has thickened, 5–10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in parley. Let sit 15 minutes before serving.
Divide chowder among bowls. Top with additional parsley, oyster crackers, and reserved ½ cup corn; season with pepper.