Summer travels have brought me to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Everyone calls Wisconsin the cheese state, but as much as I love cheese, I am all about the corn. My days here have been filled with 4th of July celebrations, bright blue skies, summer meals, brat tastings (sausages, not unwieldy children,) driving through corn fields searching out produce stands and swimming in the lake.
This is a quick and easy soup that tastes like summer. I garnish it with bacon, chives and some fresh lime, but you could always add some cheese....
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Summer Corn Chowder
6 ears of corn
2 Tbs unsalted butter or olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, cleaned and diced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
1 bell pepper (red or yellow,) seeded and diced
4 medium yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4" pieces OR 2 cups pee wee potatoes, quartered
4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 small branch fresh thyme
1 c cream, half n half or milk (depending on your taste)
1 bunch of scallions, white and light green parts, thinly sliced
1/4 c chopped parsley
to garnish:
bacon, crumbled
chives, finely chopped
olive oil
lime wedges
Shuck the corn and use a knife to slice the kernels off the cobs.
In a large pot sautée the onion, garlic, and celery in the butter or olive oil. Add a heavy pinch of kosher salt and let it cook for about 5 minutes until soft, being careful not to let it brown. Add the carrot, bell pepper, potatoes, stock and thyme. Cover and bring to a low simmer for about 30 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are almost tender. If the liquid level gets too low, add a cup of water, milk or more stock. Add the corn kernels and continue simmering for 5-10 more minutes or until all the vegetables are tender. Remove thyme.
At this point you can stick an immersion blender in the pot and pulse it for 30 seconds or so to slightly blend things together, but you want it to remain a little chunky. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can do this in a regular blender. Just do it in a couple batches, and again, you don't want to purée it, you want some chunks.
Add the cream, scallions and parsley. Season to taste with salt and fresh black pepper.
Serve in bowls garnished with bacon, chives, parsley, a drizzle of olive oil and lime wedges. Or cheese.
Serves about 8
1 c cream, half n half or milk (depending on your taste)
1 bunch of scallions, white and light green parts, thinly sliced
1/4 c chopped parsley
to garnish:
bacon, crumbled
chives, finely chopped
olive oil
lime wedges
Shuck the corn and use a knife to slice the kernels off the cobs.
In a large pot sautée the onion, garlic, and celery in the butter or olive oil. Add a heavy pinch of kosher salt and let it cook for about 5 minutes until soft, being careful not to let it brown. Add the carrot, bell pepper, potatoes, stock and thyme. Cover and bring to a low simmer for about 30 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are almost tender. If the liquid level gets too low, add a cup of water, milk or more stock. Add the corn kernels and continue simmering for 5-10 more minutes or until all the vegetables are tender. Remove thyme.
At this point you can stick an immersion blender in the pot and pulse it for 30 seconds or so to slightly blend things together, but you want it to remain a little chunky. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can do this in a regular blender. Just do it in a couple batches, and again, you don't want to purée it, you want some chunks.
Add the cream, scallions and parsley. Season to taste with salt and fresh black pepper.
Serve in bowls garnished with bacon, chives, parsley, a drizzle of olive oil and lime wedges. Or cheese.
Serves about 8
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