Corn Chowder

This is the first meal we shared as a staff in the new year. We ate it with some homemade cheesy/herby biscuits in the chill of the barn on the western end of the farm. It was simple and clean and warm and deeply satisfying to eat this together while sharing stories about our separate holiday celebrations.

It’s a wintery food—because it’s soup. But it also reminds us of the sweetness of summer and corn grown close by, harvested, and put up at its freshest.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp Butter
6-8 Scallions, Bulbs diced, Greens julienned for garnish
1 Red Bell Pepper, diced
3 cloves Garlic, minced
2 Tbsp Celery Salt (we used our own CHF Celery Salt)
1 lb Potato, peeled and diced
1 quart Vegetable Stock
2 cups Whole Milk
1 Bay Leaf
4 cups Corn, frozen or canned
Black Pepper
Salt
Hot Sauce

Directions

In a large saucepan or dutch oven, melt butter over medium high heat. Add the white bulbs of the scallions, red bell pepper, celery or celery salt, and garlic and cook just until the onion is translucent and the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. 

Add the potato, vegetable stock, and bay leaf, and a big four-finger pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce the heat. Simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring every so often, until the potatoes are tender but not mushy. 

Puree 2 cups corn and 2 cups milk in a blender until smooth. 

Add 2 cups whole corn kernels, the corn and milk puree, and continue to simmer for another 5-10 minutes until the corn is tender and the soup has thickened slightly. Remove the bay leaf. Add freshly ground black pepper, salt, and a dash of hot sauce to your liking.

Garnish with scallion greens and serve hot!

Notes about this recipe
If it’s not the right time of year to get our hands on fresh, right-off-the-cob corn, then the next best thing is to use corn that we harvested, cut off the cob, and froze to keep for such a time as this! Canned corn is always a last resort since the process of canning alters the flavor, texture, and nutritional quality of the corn. 

This recipe is made with the assumption that you’ll use frozen or canned corn, which cooks very quickly and can become tough if overcooked. But if using fresh corn, you’ll want to make sure the corn has enough time to cook through. So add in the 2 cups of whole corn kernels earlier in the process - along with the potatoes and stock. Add in the corn and milk puree at the same time in the recipe regardless of what type you decide to use.

We opted to make this a totally vegetarian and gluten free soup, in part to keep it super easy on our schedules and our bellies, but also because we did not want to overpower the delicate and wonderful flavor of the corn itself. But just saying...if you wanted to use a roux base to thicken the soup or garnish with some crumbled bacon or a big dollop of sour cream, none of us would say no to that.

Be mindful of how much salt to add as you go along. The type of stock you use, whether it’s full sodium, low sodium, or no sodium, will make a huge difference in how much salt you’ll want to add at the end. Also remember that potatoes suck up a lot of salt, and that the addition of milk or cream will dull the saltiness of the soup. It’s always wise to begin judiciously with the salt...but don’t be afraid to add as much as it takes to make it tasty. It might be more than you think.