Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Mom's Corn Chowder



With all of these fallish and winterish soups running wild through the food blogs I thought I'd add a winter favourite with which I grew up. Of course it screams 1970s "perfect for busy moms" but hey... it's comfort food. One shouldn't have to wait for it ;-)

My tastebuds just danced with happiness because I haven't made it for two years... TWO YEARS?? Is that right? Hmm... Of course I have my own tweaks to mom's recipe but that's the beauty of it. It's so tweakable.

Mom's Corn Chowder

1 onion (how big? It doesn't stinkin' matter. I use the biggest I can find LOL)

4 slices bacon, chopped (strip, Canadian backbacon, vegetarian substitute)

4 potatoes, chopped and cooked (read: do this before frying onion-I forgot too often)

1 can whole kernel corn, not drained
(well, if you want a thicker soup you can drain)

1 can cream style corn
(All I can say is mmmmmm...)

1 can cream of chicken soup (Used cream of celery last night but cream of anything will do, even cheddar cheese soup)

1/2 tsp garlic powder
(I personally like to offend people and use up to a full tsp.)

2 cups milk (I used goat milk* last night and found it made no diff)

1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
(this is a must. The mexi-mix I used last night was a tad pathetic)


At this point... COOK POTATOES while chopping onion and bacon. In large pot with a little oil if you like, cook chopped onion and bacon until onion is soft. Add cooked drained potatoes, whole kernel corn, cream corn, cream of ______ soup, garlic powder, milk. Salt to taste. Bring to boil. Turn down and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in cheese until melts. Serve.

makes 6 servings

I made some melted cheese wafer thingies... a.k.a "trying to look gourmet" ... to add to the dish. They ended up being more useful as the extra cheese flavour Tex-mex cheese mix in the soup didn't provide. Be wise, USE STRONG CHEDDAR in the soup.

Also I added 2/3 of a cup of finely diced red pepper last night. It was a nice addition. Red pepper goes so well with cheddar and corn.


* yeah, I know: GOAT MILK??? I like the taste. Still, it's odd to find something that seems so gourmet up here. Lot of lactose intolerant people up here I guess. I know I heard that somewhere--goat milk is more digestable. Now if they could only get some decent goat cheese up here. Mmmm... chevre... *drool*

7 comments:

Michelle said...

Hi Diningdica!
Your posts make me laugh outloud (esp. yesterday - may the long distance lines never go out again!). BTW - I can't wait to hear about those peppermint candies now that things are up and running again on your rock! I recently made a corn chowder too that I need to post, but yours sounds so delicious - we didn't have a recipe so we just did the best we could. I bet your mom's recipe is wonderful...I printed it out and will try it next time!

Deetsa said...

Hi Michelle,

Thanks for dropping in. Glad I could amuse.

Actually, hate to disappoint on the peppermint candy thing... I'm not making them. I need peppermint candies for a cookie recipe (I can see how you got that idea, though). And no... they still don't have any at the store. I even resolved to use peppermint extract. None of THAT left either. You'd think peppermint was a rare ingredient! And every candy cane in the store is anything but peppermint--blueberry, rootbeer, orange,etc--and expensive to boot because of some stupid little cartoon character gummy candies attached to them.

I will love to see what you did with your corn chowder. I hope you enjoy mom's recipe when you have the chance to try it.

Michelle said...

Hi Diningdica - if you really want some peppermint candies, I'll send you some! Just email me your address: mphilli4@uoregon.edu


I lived in Seward AK for a summer, so I know what it's like to not be able to find ingredients! Anything else you need???

Anonymous said...

Nerissa--It looks and sounds really good!

Deetsa said...

Ahh... Thanks for the offer, michelle, but they finally got a few in. Unfortunately it was a bit too late for the cookie blog as I have been too busy and too tired with report cards to do much. Had my mind set on ONE kind for the blog. How Aries is that of me? So bluddy stubborn!
But thank you SO much for the offer! I just may take you up on the offer if I'm missing something else, though. :D

lisasd--oh it is, lisa, it is Mmmm... corn chowder... :)

Anonymous said...

Okay, so I confess I have some fresh liine-caught (frozen) cod in the freezer that I've been dying to make into a nice chowder. Perhaps this could be the start of the recipe???

Deetsa said...

Hey, Catherine, you never know ;-)