Corn Chowder

I think ehBeth is going to jump through the monitor and kill me if I forget to to post this.

Anyways... So I have become a big fan of corn chowder since moving to DC, and I thought that it might be a fun thing to learn how to make. I read a number of recipes online and found some common ingredients and trends. Then I went to the grocery, returned home and shot from the hip (like I like to do with cooking... just dive in).

NOTE: I'm going to tell you what I did, and then I'll conclude with what I'd do next time. Dig? Well, the trains already moving, so let's go.

Corn Chowder
(serves 6 people)

INGREDIENTS
-2 cans of corn (~30 oz)
-Potatoes*
-1 can diced tomatoes (~15 oz)
-1 white onion, diced.
-1/2 a red bell pepper, diced.
-3 cups 1% milk
-3 cubes chicken bouillon dissolved in 3 cups water.
-1 TBSP Salt
-2 TBSP Pepper**
-1 tspn crushed red pepper.

*I used baby blue denim potatoes. They are long and skinny, so the chopped up quick but still were a hearty size for soup. I left the skin on since they are small to begin with. It's hard for me to gauge how many I put in. Maybe two cups worth? Shoot from the hip. Remember?

**I ran out of black pepper, so it ended up being half black and half white pepper.

COOKING IT UP
I put everything in the crock pot and walked away for 6 hours. I added a little corn starch to thinken the broth, but I don't think this is necessary. Nuff said. Then just enjoy the spicy corn chowder goodness.

WHAT I'D DO NEXT TIME
1) I'd use larger potatoes and skin them. Bare potatoes will shed off a little more starch and thicken the soup by itself. The Baby blue denim potatoes were delicious, but part of chowder is the creaminess of it, and they were too stable to dissolve a little.
2) I'd use a heavier dairy or maybe even half and half. This would also make the soup more viscous. The soup tasted great, but the texture was off, IMO.
3) I'd budget ore time and cook on low power instead of high.
4) I'd saute the onions and peppers first before putting them in the crock pot. This one is just a maybe though. The onions being cooked in the broth over the 6 hours did give the end soup a very nice base which was good for the spices.
5) This might just be me cause I like hot food, but I'd also dice up a jalapeno or two and thrown it in.
6) Some recipes call for bacon to be added. I don't think it's needed. If somehow you can replace the chicken broth with a vegetable alternative, this can be a vegetarian dish. If you can then replace the dairy, it becomes a vegan one. If I experiment with a vegan alt corn chowder, I'd probably try to use some miso or onion soup base, and for the dairy alt, I'd... ****...come on think... think back to college... what would you do...?

Bingo! I'd put a small measure of instant mashed potato flakes in to thicken it up! That would either work great, or be ultimately horrible!

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