Alright, soup is probably not the first thing that crosses your mind when the temperature is nearing 100 degrees outside. That being said, we wanted to do something different with the beautiful sweet corn we picked up at the store, so we crafted a delicious corn chowder.
We based this off of Ina Garten's recipe. Ina's never led us down the wrong path in the past, and she didn't this time either. We halved the recipe, though, because it makes a TON!
You could easily make this a vegetarian chowder by taking the bacon out altogether and swapping the chicken stock for vegetable stock.
Here's what you need:
3 strips of bacon (omit this step if making vegetarian)
2 large onions
1/8 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp tumeric
1 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
6 cups low-sodium chicken stock (vegetable stock if making vegetarian)
1 lb boiling potatoes, skin on
5 ears of fresh corn (or 1 1/2 lb frozen corn)
1 cup half and half
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (we used medium cheddar, but you can use what you want)
Here's what you do:
Start by dicing your onion.
We also cleaned and diced our potatoes at the beginning, so we had less to do later.
Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium high heat.
Cook the bacon until crispy, then set aside. If you're making the vegetarian version of this dish, just start by cooking the onions with the butter in the olive oil.
Reduce the heat to medium, then add the onions and butter.
Let the onions cook for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, boil water for your corn and salt well.
Slice the corn off the cob.
Blanche the corn in the boiling water for about three minutes. If you're using frozen corn, you don't need to boil it.
Drain the corn and set aside.
When your onions have become translucent, like this:
Add the flour, tumeric, salt and pepper to the pot.
Give it a good stir and let the mixture cook for about 3 minutes. This will take the raw flour taste out of your chowder.
Once your roux is cooked, add the chicken stock. (Vegetable stock for vegetarian).
And, add the potatoes.
Return the heat to medium high or high and bring to a boil. Let boil for 15 minutes, or until your potatoes are tender.
Once your potatoes are tender, reduce the heat back to medium and add the corn.
Add the cream.
And finally, add the cheese.
Stir everything to combine it and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Stir occasionally to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot.
While the cheese was melting and the chowder is coming together, we whipped up a garnish by crumbling the bacon, adding diced avocado, and some cilantro.
Serve hot.
Enjoy!
We have to thank The Pioneer Woman again for this recipe. We changed a couple things, but for the most part, it's the same. We've been wanting to make this soup for quite a while, but we've had so much other cooking to do around the holidays. We finally broke out the mandolin and threw this one together one Sunday.
Here's what you need:
12 red potatoes
1 red onion, chopped
1 1/2 lb mild Italian sausage
1 bunch kale
1/2 Tbsp-ish red pepper flake
1 tsp dried oregano
2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
2 cups whole milk
4 cups half 'n half
Splash of heavy cream
Freshly ground black pepper
Here's what you do:
Start by thinly slicing your potatoes with either a mandolin or by hand. Sorry, no picture. One of us was slicing the potatoes, while the other was cleaning up the kale.
Also, start a pot of water, filled to about halfway, boiling. Your potatoes will bring the water level up a lot.
Rinse your kale and tear into bite size pieces. Throw it into a bowl and soak with water. Let that sit while you prepare the rest of the soup.
Your water should be boiling, so salt the water a bit with kosher salt and drop in the potatoes.
Let those cook for 8-10 minutes, or until they are fork tender and break apart a bit.
Strain the potatoes and set aside.
Break up the sausage in the same pot you used to cook the potatoes.
Toss in the onion and brown the meat completely.
Once everything has browned, drain off as much of the fat as you can and then add in the red pepper flake and oregano.
Give that a stir, then add the chicken stock.
Then add the whole milk...
And, add the half and half.
Let that simmer for about 30 minutes.
Next, add the potatoes back into the mix.
Then add the kale.
Stir everything well to combine all the ingredients. Add just a splash of heavy cream to the mix at the very end.
Bring that back to a simmer for another 10 minutes.
Serve immediate.
Enjoy!
We don't know about you, but we love French Onion Soup. Is there anything better on a cold winter day? There's just something about caramelized onions that make us happy.
We've experimented with different recipes, but in the end, we ended up creating our own recipe for this.
Here's what you need:
5 lbs. sweet onions
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 cups white wine
2 bay leaves
4 sprigs of thyme
6 cups of beef broth
2 cups water
1 oz. whiskey/cognac
Kosher Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Here's what you do:
Start by heating a your olive oil in a dutch oven. You just want enough to coat the bottom of the pan.
Clean your onions and slice into crescent moon shapes. We know, it's a lot of onions.
Once your oil is hot, add all of the onions to the pot. For each layer of onions that you add to the pot, sprinkle a dash of salt and a pinch of pepper. Throw the lid on and walk away for 15-20 minutes.
Remove the lid and give it a quick stir. Let it cook, uncovered over medium-low heat for a couple of hours. Stir this occasionally, but be patient and let the onions cook down in their own time. Your patience will be rewarded with this:
Ok, so it might look a little gross, but it tastes a-m-a-z-i-n-g. Now that you have a pot full of caramelized onions, add the white wine, until the onions are just covered.
Let that reduce by about half, then add the thyme and bay leaves. You'll also want to salt and pepper this again.
Now add the beef stock, water and brown liquor. Traditionally, French Onion soup is made with cognac, but we used a scotch with a gold label. You can use whatever you prefer.
Bring the soup to a boil and then let simmer for at least an hour.
About 10 minutes before you're ready to eat, pre-heat your oven to broil. Slice a nice crusty bread on the bias and top with cheese. We used provolone here, but gruyere is also a great compliment to the crouton. Place these under the broiler and keep an eye on them. They will cook quickly.
Now, simply spoon up a bowl, top with the crouton and serve.
Enjoy!
We had turkey left over from Thanksgiving, and a person can only eat so many turkey sandwiches. So, we got creative and made this tasty soup. If you don't have any more left over turkey, you can substitute with a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.
Here's what you need:
3 carrots
3 celery stalks
3 shallots
2 cloves garlic
2 cups (give or take) turkey
6 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
2/3 cup white wine
1 cup fine noodles (ours are Amish fine noodles, but you can use any small noodle)
1 Tbsp savory seasoning blend
2-3 springs of thyme
2 bay leaves
Kosher Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Here's what you do:
Peel and chop your carrot.
Chop your celery to about the same size as your carrots.
And repeat with your shallots.
Mince the garlic. Keep the garlic separate from the carrot, celery and shallot.
Heat your stock pot over medium heat and add enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Once your oil is hot, toss the carrot, celery and shallot in and toss it around to coat the vegetables. Sprinkle about 1/2 of the savory seasoning over the top and salt and pepper a bit.
Let the veggies cook for 5-7 minutes, or until they just start to soften. Add in the garlic and let that cook for about 10 more minutes.
While the vegetables are cooking, chop your cooked turkey into bite-size pieces.
Turn your heat up to medium-high and add the white wine to the vegetables. Let that simmer until it no longer smells like wine when you take a whiff. It should just take a couple of minutes.
Add the bay leaves, thyme, the other half of the savory seasoning, some more salt and pepper. If you want to bundle your thyme sprigs, feel free, but they weren't hard to fish out at the end.
Then, add the turkey. Let the turkey warm through before you add the liquids.
Pour in your chicken stock.
And the water.
Stir that up and give it a taste. Season as needed.
Bring the soup to a boil and add your noodles. Boil the noodles according the the package directions - ours was 9-12 minutes.
We paired ours with a dinner roll that we brushed with a little herb butter.
Enjoy!
