Perfect soup and chowder weather – finally cooler weather is here. It’s mid-October! Today more rain – it’s been a really wet summer and early fall – and so cold and damp equals soup weather.
I thought about what I have on hand. Two large bags of corn in the freezer, and I know some canned chopped clams. Normally I would make shrimp and corn chowder, but why not clams instead? A bit of frozen green pepper, though red- pepper would be prettier in the bowl. I have bacon grease I save in the fridge ( it’s liquid gold ! ), but if you don’t have any on hand, use some butter. Or better yet, cook a couple strips of bacon in the pan first and use as garnish. Hhmmm, now maybe I will cook some bacon anyway to use as garnish. Spices, potatoes, and chicken stock are a given in my pantry.
Although it’s passed fresh picked sweet corn season now, fresh corn cut from the cob, or even grilled and then cut off would be a superb addition in place of frozen. I do not like fish stock, so I always use chicken stock. However if your taste buds like fish or shrimp stock, or vegetable stock, by all means use it!
And if you don’t have clams, go back to shrimp or even crab. Yum!
Fox Pines Corn and crab Chowder
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp bacon fat or butter
- 1 medium onion diced
- ½ green or red onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic grated or minced
- 2 medium-large potatoes diced in ½” cubes
- 2 6.5 oz cans of chopped clams with juices
- 3 cups of frozen corn
- 2 cups chicken broth
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- ¼ tsp cumin
- Dash smoked paprika
- 2 cups half and half
Instructions
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Melt fat in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Sauté onion until it just starts to soften and gets brown around the edges. Add in the pepper, and sauté for a couple minutes, then also add the potatoes. After another 2-3 minutes, add the garlic, and stir briefly.
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Pour in the clam and all their juice. Add the chicken broth, corn and spices. The liquid should just v=cover up the corn. Add some water if needed. Bring to a low simmer, and let it cook until potatoes are nearly done, about 15 minutes.
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Add the half and half. To make the chowder thicker and creamier, add ¼ cup potato starch (mixed with a bit of water), or a cornstarch slurry. Stir in off heat, and let stand without further cooking over heat.
Recipe Notes
Notes: add flavor dimension with a bay leaf, or fresh chopped thyme. Add in with the corn.