Grandma's Corn Chowder

Cold winter days are the perfect days to make a pot of soup - I made Grandma's Corn Chowder the other day, it was really delicious!    Right off the top, I have to say this is not my Grandmother's recipe or anybody's recipe that I know, it's from All Recipes, I don't care who it belongs to, it's a good one!  Another thing, I never plan a food post so if I have a picture and it's something worth sharing, I'll write about it, therefore, the picture may not be the very best!!

Grandma's Corn Chowder

1/2 c. diced bacon

4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped.  ( I used three nice sized red potatoes and left the peeling on, for some color)

1 medium onion

2 cups water ( I used chicken broth)

3 cups cream style corn ( I used one can of cream corn and two cups of frozen corn)

2 teaspoons salt

Ground black pepper, to taste

2 cups half and half

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.   Bacon would not have to be used at all, or you could just crumble some on the top, for whoever desires it!

Mix potatoes and onion into the pot with the crumbled bacon and reserved drippings.  Cook and stir 5 minutes.  Pour in the water or broth 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!

I froze the leftovers, after each having a nice size bowl, there are two more soup meals in the freezer for us.  I have been trying to make soup ahead and not buy canned soup any more, right now I have three kinds in the freezer.  It's so much better!!  

Crab Corn Chowder - SO GOOD!

Last night we steamed up some snow crab and had plenty of leftovers, I wanted to try something different from the usual crab sandwiches, they're good but I wanted to branch out!!  Hah!!  I took out this cookbook - if you live in Canada, I'm sure you've heard of Chef Michael Smith - his Chef at Home tv show is broadcast on HGTV Canada, it's also shown in the United States and many countries throughout the world.  And, he lives just a couple of doors down from my late mother-in-laws house in Prince Edward Island - we always would look in to his place when we'd pass by, it was always a behive of activity there!!  I guess the locals are used to him by now, but the day that he went strolling down the road, we were running to the window!!!

The cookbook does not disappoint - the recipe I chose was Crab Corn Chowder with Bacon and Thyme.  It was just so good!!

6 slices of bacon, sliced crosswise into narrow strips

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 celery stalks, diced

2 baking potatoes, diced

2 cups of fresh corn kernels

2 cups of chicken broth

2 cups of whipping cream

8 ounces of fresh crabmeat, carefully picked over for any stray bits of shell

1/2 cup of chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon of chopped fresh thyme

A sprinkle or two of salt and lots of freshly ground pepper

Toss the bacon into your favourite soup pot over medium heat and cook it until lightly browned and crisp.  Transfer to a few folded paper towels to drain.  Pour off all but a tablespoon or two of the bacon fat.  Add the onions and celery to the pot and cook, stirring frequently, until they're tender, about 5 minutes.  Add the potatoes, corn, chicken broth and cream and bring to a simmer.  Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender, another 10 minutes or so.

Just before serving, stir in the crab, parsley and thyme. Simmer just long enough to heat everything through, another few minutes.  Season with salt and pepper to your taste.  Ladle the chowder into bowls and top with the reserved bacon.  I also added some of the bacon to the chowder pot.

This is a great recipe, I'll definitely make it next time we have leftover crab!!  Click on the pictures to see all that goodness!