Corn Chowder

Yields 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 1 slice bacon, or
  • 1 teaspoon bacon fat, or
  • ½ tablespoon butter
  • ½ cup yellow onion; chopped
  • ⅓ cup carrot; chopped
  • ⅓ cup celery; chopped
  • 3 ears sweet corn; kernels removed
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 3½ cups milk
  • ¼ cup potato; peeled and diced
  • ¼ cup red bell pepper; chopped
  • Kosher salt
  • black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon fresh thyme

Directions

  1. In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the bacon strip (or more butter) and fry until the bacon renders its fat, but does not begin to brown, 3 or 4 minutes. Add the onion and saute for 4 to 5 minutes, until soft. Add the carrot and celery and cook for 4 to 5 more minutes.
  2. Break the corn cobs in half and add them to the saucepan. Add the milk and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a bare simmer. Cover the pot and cook for 30 minutes. Make sure the heat is as low as can be and still maintain a gentle simmer (on our stove, we had to use the “warm” setting) to prevent scalding the milk on the bottom of the pan.
  3. Discard the cobs, the bacon strip, and the bay leaf. Riase the heat, add the potatoes, red pepper, 1 teaspoon of salt, fresh ground pepper to taste, bring to a simmer and reduce the heat to maintain a simmer for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are almost fork tender.
  4. Raise the heat, add the corn kernels and the thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes.