Summer Corn Chowder

Soup is a meal that my husband could eat almost daily... me on the other hand, I'm good with soup every month or so.  However, today I was inspired by a few events to try this new Corn Chowder.  First, the sun came out!  After 3 weeks of July gray weather here in San Diego, we all perked up as the sun hit our faces and brightened up our world.  Second, my husband's schedule didn't really mesh with my kid driving schedule and I needed something that he could heat up easily and quickly.  And last but not least, Deb at Kahakai Kitchen hosts a weekly Souper Sunday roundup that I wanted to participate in (I know... it's not Sunday, but she will roundup on Sunday!).  

Last week's Souper Sunday included a White Corn Soup with Pobalano Cream Sauce posted by Reeni from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice that looked like something we would love.  Using corn and poblano as inspiration, I settled for a recipe I found in Fine Cooking Fresh.  I used their recipe as a guide and came up with something of my own that we truly enjoyed.

 Grilled corn & Poblano

The original recipe called for potatoes, and as we are not big potato fans, I substituted some yellow crookneck squash that my neighbor brought over from her garden.  We also love grilled poblano peppers and I happened to have a couple on hand so I chopped them up and tossed them in as well.  Bacon was called for, but to make this more of a hearty meal I added some shredded chicken instead.  All in all, I'm pretty darn proud of myself.  Brian sat down and skeptically asked, "Is this one of your creations?" (I may have had a few that weren't so good...), but quickly after his first bite he proclaimed this new chowder a keeper!

Summer Corn Chowder

3 ears of fresh corn, grilled

1 Tbs butter

1 small onion, chopped

1 Tbs jalapeño pepper, finely diced (increase or decrease as desired for spice)

1 small summer squash, chopped

1 roasted poblano pepper, peeled chopped

1½ cups low sodium chicken broth

2 cups water

½ cup shredded chicken, cooked

1 tsp dried thyme

freshly ground pepper

1 scallion onion, thinly sliced (optional)

Grill the corn, cool, and remove corn from cobs.

Chop onion.  Heat butter in a large pot and add chopped onion.  Cook until onion is translucent and soft, add jalapeño and cook 1 minute longer.  Add the broth, water, squash, roasted poblano and thyme.  Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft - add water if soup becomes too thick.

Transfer 1 cup of the soup to a blender and purée.  Return the purée to the pot and stir.  Add shredded chicken and simmer for 5 more minutes to heat through.  Season soup to taste with salt and pepper, then ladle soup into bowls and top with scallion onions if desired.  Serve with a crusty bread for a hearty meal!



Corn