Christmas Corn Chowder Recipes

SUMMER CORN CHOWDER

Steps:

• Heat olive oil and butter in a Dutch oven over low heat. Add onion; cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle flour over onion; cook and stir until onion is coated, about 5 minutes.
• Stir vegetable broth and potatoes into the onion mixture; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; cook partially covered until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Add corn, red pepper, green pepper, half-and-half, ground black pepper, and salt. Reduce heat to low; cook and stir until corn is softened, about 8 minutes.

CORN CHOWDER

Steps:

• Cut kernels from cobs; set aside. Break cobs into thirds, and place in a medium saucepan. Add 3 cups water. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook for 20 minutes to make a corn stock. Strain, discarding cobs; you should have about 2 cups.
• Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp, about 10 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a small bowl; set aside. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat. To the pan, add the onion, and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.
• Add the potato, corn kernels, 2 cups corn stock, milk, thyme, and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a simmer, and cook, partially covered, skimming foam as necessary, until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Taste, and adjust for seasoning. Sprinkle with reserved bacon.

SUMMER CORN CHOWDER

Steps:

• Melt butter in a small stockpot over medium-low heat. Add onion, thyme bundle, and corn, and season with salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until very soft but not browned, about 20 minutes.
• Add stock and potatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove and discard thyme. Puree one third of the mixture until smooth, using an immersion blender (use caution when blending hot liquids). Return to pot and stir in half and half. Cook until chowder is hot. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with chives and hot sauce, if desired; serve immediately.

CORN CHOWDER

Steps:

• Husk the corn.
• Carefully remove most of the silk by hand and then rub the ears with a towel to finish the job.
• Cut the kernels from the cobs and place in a bowl.
• You should have about 2 cups.
• Using the back of your knife, scrape down the cobs and add the milky substance that oozes out to the corn kernels.
• Heat a 3-to 4-quart heavy pot over low heat and add the diced bacon.
• Once it has rendered a few tablespoons of fat, increase the heat to medium and cook until the bacon is crisp and golden brown.
• Pour off all but one tablespoon of the bacon fat, leaving the bacon in the pot.
• Add the butter, onion, bell pepper, thyme, cumin, and turmeric and sauté, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, for about 8 minutes, until the onion and pepper are tender but not browned.
• Add the corn kernels, potatoes and stock, turn up the heat, cover, and boil vigorously for about 10 minutes.
• Some of the potatoes will have broken up, but most should retain their shape.
• Use the back of your spoon to smash a bit of the corn and potatoes against the side of the pot.
• Reduce the heat to medium and season the chowder with salt and pepper.
• Stir the cornstarch mixture and slowly pour it into the pot, stirring constantly.
• As soon as the chowder has come back to a boil and thickened slightly, remove from the heat and stir in the cream.
• Adjust the seasoning if necessary.
• If you are not serving the chowder within the hour, let it cool a bit, then refrigerate; cover the chowder AFTER it has chilled completely.
• Otherwise, let it sit at room temperature for up to an hour, allowing the flavors to meld.
• When ready to serve, reheat the chowder over low heat; don't let it boil.
• Ladle into cups or bowls and sprinkle with the chopped chives.

CHRISTMAS CHOWDER

Steps:

• Pour 1 inch of water into a pot large enough to contain all the lobsters. Bring the water to a full boil. Remove the bands from the lobsters' claws and place them on their backs over the boiling water. Cover the pot tightly, and steam over high heat about 3 minutes. Quickly remove the lobsters from the pot and chill them rapidly by plunging them into a basin filled with ice and water. Set a wire strainer over a mixing bowl. Twist the tails off the lobsters over the strainer to catch their juices. Shell the lobster tails and claws over the strainer. Cut the tails into 4 quarters, leave the claw and knuckle meats whole, and reserve the lobster meat in a refrigerator.
• Peel the potatoes, split each into 4 wedges, and slice the wedges into 1/2-inch slices. In a large non-reacting soup pot, cook the diced bacon over moderate heat until golden and nearly crisp. Pour off all but about a generous tablespoon of the fat. Add the diced leeks, stir, and cook about 2 minutes. Add the potatoes, stir, cover the pot, and continue cooking over moderate heat, stirring frequently to prevent browning, until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes depending upon the potato variety and the thickness of the slices. (Chef's Note: I like to mash some of the potatoes with a fork to give the chowder a luxurious but rustic texture, but good mealy potatoes, such as russets, will release some of their substance into the broth, and this step may be unnecessary.) Add the strained lobster juices and enough water, lobster or fish stock, to just cover the vegetables. Simmer 4 or 5 minutes. Keep the chowder base hot as you prepare the lobster meat and cream enrichment.
• Heat the butter in a wide skillet. Add the lobster meat, season with black pepper, and saute over moderate heat 3 or 4 minutes until the meat is firm, opaque, and pink. Pour in the heavy cream, and rapidly bring it to a simmer. Pour the lobster and cream mixture into the chowder base, and stir gently to combine. Taste for seasonings, and adjust with sea salt (preferably from Maine), plenty of fresh-milled black pepper, and a pinch of chipotle or cayenne pepper. Off heat, cover the pot and allow the chowder to ripen for 15 or 20 minutes before serving. Ladle into warmed soup plates, and sprinkle snipped chives over each serving. Accompany with plenty of warmed common crackers.

COLD-DAY CORN CHOWDER

Steps:

• Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a medium Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 6 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain.
• Drain or spoon off all but 3 tablespoons of the fat in the pot. Add the onion, bell pepper and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables just begin to become tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add the flour, thyme and bay leaves. Stir the flour into the vegetables to make a paste and coat them evenly. Cook a minute or two to get rid of the raw flour flavor. Add the chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook until the vegetables are tender, 15 minutes.
• Uncover the pot and add the potato, half-and-half and all but 1/2 cup of the corn. Simmer, uncovered, until the potato is very tender but not yet falling apart, 10 to 12 minutes.
• Meanwhile, melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the reserved ½ cup corn and cook, stirring, until warmed through, 6 to 8 minutes.
• Discard the bay leaves from the soup. Puree about 1 cup of the soup in a food processor or blender and stir it back into the soup. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the cooked bacon and buttered corn kernels.

GRANDMA'S CORN CHOWDER

Steps:

• Place the bacon in a large pot over medium-high heat, and cook until crisp. Drain and crumble, reserving about 2 tablespoons drippings in the pot.
• Mix potatoes and onion into the pot with the crumbled bacon and reserved drippings. Cook and stir 5 minutes. Pour in the water, and stir in corn. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and cover pot. Simmer 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until potatoes are tender.
• Warm the half-and-half in a small saucepan until it bubbles. Remove from heat before it boils, and mix into the chowder just before serving.

CORN AND CLAM CHOWDER

Steps:

• If fresh corn on the cob is used, cut each ear crosswise into thirds. Set aside.
• Rinse the clams well and put them in a kettle.
• Cut the carrot lengthwise in half. Cut each half crosswise into thin slices. There should be about one cup. Add this to the clams.
• Coarsely chop the celery. There should be about one cup. Add this to the clams.
• Coarsely chop the onion. There should be about one and one-half cups. Add the onion, thyme and wine to the clams.
• Put the kettle over high heat and cover closely with a lid. Bring to the boil and cook until the clams open, about three minutes.
• Line another kettle with a sieve and line the sieve with cheesecloth. Or use a sieve of the sort known in French kitchens as a chinois.
• Pour the clams, vegetables and liquid into the sieve. There should be about two and one-half cups of liquid. Add the chicken broth to the clam liquid and bring to the boil.
• Meanwhile, remove the meat from the clams and set aside. Unless the meat pieces are small, cut the pieces in half. Discard the shells.
• Add the strained vegetables to the clam and chicken broth. If corn on the cob is used, add it to the kettle and cook about five minutes and add four cups of the cream. Bring to the boil. Add salt and pepper and let simmer about 20 minutes.
• If corn on the cob has been used, remove the pieces of corn from the kettle, using a pair of tongs. When the pieces of corn are cool enough to handle, cut the kernels from the cobs. There should be about five cups. Add this or the canned or frozen corn to the kettle. Pour the mixture, one portion at a time, into the container of a food processor or, preferably, an electric blender and blend. Combine the blended soup in a kettle and add one tablespoon of the lime juice, salt and pepper. There should be about 16 cups of soup. Add the meat from the clams.
• Bring the soup to the boil and swirl in the butter.
• Chop the peppers coarsely. There should be about three tablespoons. Put the peppers in the container of an electric blender. Add the remaining lime juice, olive oil, cilantro, salt and pepper. Blend as finely as possible. This is to be used as a garnish for the soup.
• Whip the remaining one cup of cream and add the blended pepper and lime juice mixture. Blend well.
• Serve the hot soup in 12 individual bowls and top each serving with an equal portion of the whipped cream mixture.

BACON-POTATO CORN CHOWDER

Steps:

• In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp, stirring occasionally. Remove with a slotted spoon; drain on paper towels. Discard drippings, reserving 1-1/2 teaspoons in pan. Add onion to drippings; cook and stir over medium-high heat until tender., Meanwhile, place potatoes in a large saucepan; add water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium; cook, uncovered, 10-15 minutes or until tender. Drain, reserving 1 cup potato water., Add corn, milk, salt, pepper, potatoes and reserved potato water to saucepan; heat through. Stir in bacon and onion.

CHRISTMAS CORN CHOWDER

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, saute the onions, celery, red and green peppers in 4 Tbsp of unsalted butter, stirring constantly, until onion is translucent, or about 5 minutes.
• Add the diced potatoes and broth, bring to a boil. Then turn down the heat, cover pan, and simmer for 10 minutes or until potatoes are just tender.
• Cream flour and melted butter together and set aside.
• Add corn, cream, and seasonings; mix well and then heat until small bubbles appear around the edges (scalding point).
• Add flour and butter mixture to the pan, bit by bit, stirring well after each addition. Simmer until thickened.
• Serve immediately with a sprinkle of parsley or freshly ground nutmeg. Can also be made ahead of time and kept warm in a crock pot.