SUNDAY CORN CHOWDER

Corn Chowder...yuuummmmmmmmm! I love this stuff. This is the perfect soup to make on a Fall Sunday while you are watching football. Served with a nice crusty bread or small blt sandwiches, or just a tall glass of chardonnay.....yes!

It is so very affordable, if you have an at-home or road trip tailgate party this is an excellent dish that adds a nice new dimension to the bbq'd menu.

It is great to be able to thicken this soup by pureeing half and adding it back. Works great! This serves about 6-8.

8 ears of corn, shucked
1/3 lb pancetta or bacon, chopped
5 tbl unsalted butter
1 tbl thyme, finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 large pieces of celery chopped
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
6 cups milk
1-1/2 lb new potatoes peeled (or not) cut into 1/2" cubes
salt
fresh pepper
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil for garnish
1/2 tsp old bay seasoning for garnish


Standing the cobs in a large bowl on their end, slice the kernels off the cobs and scrape the cob to get all that great corn juice into the bowl. Take 5 of the cobs, break them in half and save, discard the others. Set corn and cobs aside.

In a large pot cook the pancetta until crisp. Reserve 3 tbl of the pancetta on a paper towel to drain and leave the other pancetta in the pan. Add the butter, thyme, garlic, celery, onion and bay leaf. Cover the pot and cook until onion softened, stir occasionally. Add the corn, reserved cobs, milk and potatoes. Cover and bring to boil then reduce to low and simmer about 25 minutes until potatoes are tender. Stir occasionally.
Skim any foam from the surface. Discard the cobs and bay leaf. Transfer 1-1/2 cups of the soup to a blender and puree. Stir puree back into the chowder and season with salt and pepper. Serve the soup garnished with reserved pancetta, basil and dashes of Old Bay seasoning on top.

You can add shrimp or crab to this to "kick it up"!!!
ENJOY!