Sunday, July 5, 2009

Corn Chowder American Style


Kitchen Chase, Keeping Meals simple, Keeping you Satisfied

Happy 4th of July weekend to everyone. Yesterday I did what I usually do and that is cook too much food. My son "Daniel" had invited a few of his buddy's over for a BBQ before they headed off to the Tempe Town Lakes fireworks display, so being the "MOM" that I am I decided to fix some nice BBQ items in hopes that the usually hungry men would eat up.
As it turned out, they hardly ate anything and left me with a dirty kitchen filled with a lot of nice food that seemed overwhelming to just turn into leftovers... SO, being the handy Chase in the Kitchen I set out to try something NEW, and MAN oh MAN I hit a home run and hope you'll try this sometime this summer, or soon.

Here is the set up...

BBQ corn on the cob not eaten, about 6 ears that had been wrapped in foil coated in butter and some seasoning. I don't thin it much matters, but any cooked corn on cob need never be discarded.

I shaved the kernels off the cobs and had about 1 1/2 cups worth, doesn't really matter, take a sharp knife and stand the cob straight upright and sheer the nibbles off the cob.

3 BBQ fully cooked Johnson Mild sausage that I cut into small pieces

So that is all I had left from the BBQ I used for this chowder, And here are the basic for a terrific chowder!

3/4 stick Butter
3/4 cup of 'FINE' Flour
1/4 cup finely chopped onion (white/yellow doesn't really matter)
3/4 stalks of Celery chopped
1/2 Tbs crushed Thyme
1/4 Tbs. Celery Salt
Pinch of Dried Chilli pepper for flavor
3/4 Bay leaf (Must have for any good soup/stew)

Melt the butter over low heat and once melted add the chopped onion and Celery. Saute for about 2 minutes till transparent. NOW for the Magic! Whisk in that flour and let that flour cook in the butter /onion/celery/ mixture.

Add about 3-4 cups of Milk (whole, low fat etc.) just whatever you have is fine

Add your BBQ corn or any type for that matter (I like the BBQ corn because it has so much more flavor)
Add Diced BBQ cooked Sausages
Add Bay leafs and some leaf Thyme for flavor alone with Celery Salt to taste.

Bring this all to a boil stirring constantly at a med/low heat... once low boil reached the stew should start to be a little thicker. Cover the pot and continue to simmer for 20/30 minutes stirring occasionally, DO NOT leave this as it will scorch and potentially burn as it is milk based.

I went ahead and added a "PINCH" of chill pepper at the end to give it a kick.

Simmer all for bout 30 minutes and serve piping hot with some fresh French Bread and Butter!

This dish is delicious, sweet, warm, spicy and sure to bring a smile on anyone's face!

Delicious! Bon Appeite!