Inn on the Twenty

Jordan, Ontario, Canada

Specialty Recipe

Corn Chowder with
Sweet Pepper and Thyme

Inn on the Twenty Website

This has been one of Inn on Twenty's most popular soup recipe requests and deservedly so. Such basic flavors combine to make a soup that, with a slice of grain bread or potato bread, makes a meal on its own.

This is a very versatile recipe that shows off that sweet buttery flavor of corn when it's at its best. If you are a vegetarian, simply omit the bacon and use vegetable stock. If you wish to avoid wheat gluten, skip the flour, then puree about 1/3 of the solids and add back into the soup for body.

Ingredients

4 strips bacon, diced

1 onion, diced

1 rib celery, diced

1 carrot, peeled and diced

1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

2 Tablespoons (30 mL) unsalted butter

2 Tablespoons (30 mL) all-purpose flour

2 cups (475 mL) chicken stock

2 cups (475 mL) 2% milk

4 cobs corn, kernels removed, or 1-1/2 cups (360 mL) corn kernels, fresh or frozen

2 teaspoons (10 mL) chopped fresh thyme

1 Yukon Gold potato, peeled and diced

Salt and pepper

In a medium sauce pot, cook diced bacon over medium-high heat until crispy. Remove bacon from pan, but leave fat. Allow pan to cool to medium heat and add onion, celery, and carrot and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add pepper and cook for an additional five minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.

In the same saucepan, melt butter over low to medium heat. Add flour and stir with a wooden spoon for 5 minutes until flour takes on a slightly nutty aroma but doesn't color. Using a whisk, gradually add chicken stock, whisking constantly until smooth. Whisk in milk and turn heat up to medium. Add bacon, sauteed vegetables, corn, and thyme. Add diced potato and simmer chowder for 20 minutes until potatoes are cooked through. Season to taste before serving.

Serves: 6 to 8

This recipe was published in Inn on the Twenty Cookbook by Anna and Michael Olson, Whitecap Books (p. 126).

• Inn on the Twenty on VirtualCities.com
• Inn on the Twenty Website
• You found this recipe on 1st Traveler's Choice Internet Cookbook. (www.virtualcities.com)