Bacon and Corn Chowder

 

This recipe came to be as a combination of a few different recipes I found in my Soup Bible Cookbook. I loved the end result, and what's more important, my toddler loved it too. He ate the soup for breakfast lunch and dinner for three days and still wanted more. It's a very easy and delicious recipe but make sure to use fresh corn which is in abundance this time of year. You know when you put bacon on it, everything becomes instantly better.

 

 INGREDIENTS:

2 corn ears 

1/2 lb bacon

2 potatoes

1 large green bell pepper

1 yellow onion

1 garlic clove

2 small celery sticks

4 cups of chicken stock

3 bay leaves

2 tbsp corn starch 

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 tbsp water

salt and pepper

 

PROCESS:
Chop bacon into small pieces and fry in a large pan. Remove from the heat when crispy and drain, setting bacon aside.Take the fat from the bacon and pour it into a Dutch oven pot.

Chop onion, celery, pepper and potato into small bite size chunks and sauté with the bacon fat for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the corn kernels off the ears and throw in with the rest of veggies along with garlic. Let it sweat for another 5 minutes, then pour the stock. Add bay leaf, salt and pepper to taste, and simmer the soup for about 30-40 minutes. Once the potatoes are cooked through, take a potato masher and mash the soup a little bit, creating a thicker consistency. Leave some potato chunks in the soup.

Combine two tablespoons of water with cornstarch until it dissolves and add the heavy cream, then pour the mixture into the soup. Increase the soup to high heat and bring it to boil (turn it off as soon as you see bubbles form). Let the soup rest for about hour before serving, if you can. You can freeze it easily and it's even better the next day.
Serve soup of bacon on top and a piece of black bread on a side. Delicious!