Summer Corn Chowder

Before the wedding I started subscribing to MANY cooking blogs on my Google Reader. So much, in fact, that the amount of recipes I'd starred greatly over shadowed those with wedding ideas. The Hubs and I could not wait to start cooking in our very own kitchen!

This past Sunday, after spending an hour in our newly discovered Smart & Final, we cooked a delicious meal. My contribution was from a Grilled Summer Corn Chowder recipe I found on A Year in the Kitchen. I LOVE corn and this just looked to tasty not to attempt. (As you can see I made a few tweaks to her already great recipe).

Grilled Summer Corn Chowder

1 tbsp. EVOO
1 yellow onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, grated
1 yellow bell pepper, finely diced
2 large yukon gold potatoes, finely diced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper
1 tsp. chili powder
4 c. vegetable stock
4 ears of grilled corn, sliced off the cobb
Splash of cream (the Hubs is lactose intolerant so we used Almond Milk)
Scallions, thinly sliced

Heat in a soup pot over medium - EVOO, garlic, chili powder, onion, garlic, bell pepper, potatoes and carrots.
Season with salt and pepper, stir and cook for 10 minutes.
Add 2 c. vegetable stock, bring to a boil and cover.
Cook until vegetables are tender, about 5-10 more minutes.
Take half of vegetables (in the pot), half of corn and 1 c. reserved vegetable stock to a blender.
Puree until smooth and thick, add vegetable stock if necessary.
Add puree back to the pot with reserved vegetables.
Add cream, almost all the remaining corn, and more stock to reach desired consistency.
Bring to a simmer, ladle into a bowl, top with remaining corn and scallions.

For the corn I boiled/steamed the 4 ears of corn for 30 mins, then cut the corn of the cob and browned it in a pan with a little olive oil and garlic (because we love garlic). It was my way of getting grilled corn without having to heat up the Weber.

** I need to learn to take better pics of my food, and WHIPE the bowl! Jeeze Allison!