Creamy Corn Chowder

Ahhhhh soup. Such a versatile choice for dinner. Soup can be thick, it can be creamy, it can be chock full of meat or veggies, noodles, or beans. Some are broth based, others are blended smooth. In this case, corn chowder is both thick and creamy as well as smooth. Some chowder recipes can call for as much as 2 cups of heavy cream. But by puree'ing some of the soup mixture we can use the starchy potatoes to thicken the soup instead of cream. And in reality, who doesn't love dipping a fresh dinner roll into a piping hot bowl of soup?

Creamy Corn Chowder

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 white onion, finely chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 8 small red potatoes, diced
• 2 tbsp. flour
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream, or other cream substitute
• 1 tsp. hot sauce
• 3 cups frozen corn
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large soup pot. Add the onion, celery, carrot, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook for about 7 minutes, until the vegetables are soft.

Sprinkle the vegetables with flour and whisk to coat them well. Cook another 1-2 minutes, stirring continuously. 

Pour in the stock and bring to a boil. Add in the potatoes, bring to a boil and let cook for about 8 minutes.

With a hand blender, blend half of the mixture, until potatoes start to break down and the soup becomes thick and creamy. 

Add in the heavy cream, hot sauce, and the corn.

Let simmer until the corn is soft, about 12 minutes. Serve hot.