Corn Chowder - a pantry staple soup

We’re over three weeks now since our last grocery store pick up, and we are getting DOWN to the bottom of the crisper drawer, if you know what I mean. By this morning, everything green was gone, but I still had carrots, celery, a tiny bit of parsley, a couple onions and a bit of garlic.

If you’re a fellow soup lover, you already know that as long as you keep whole carrots, celery, onions and garlic around, you can make soup. And if you’re lucky enough to have herbs on hand, you can make great soup. Add a few potatoes and some frozen corn and you’ve got the fixings for a simple but fantastic corn chowder which isn’t a nutritional rock star, but sometimes you need a fun-factor soup. This is one of those. This chowder is vegan (again, an easy option for a pantry soup), made creamy by puréeing some of the soup and leaving the rest for texture. Do this to your liking. Spice it up with some roasted green chiles for southwest corn chowder, and if you need bacon in it, well, you do you and go for it. Make it in a crockpot if you want - instructions listed below.

Corn Chowder
Yield: 6 servings
Vegan, Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free

2 cups frozen baby corn, preferably organic 
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled, green sprout removed, and finely chopped
2-3 medium carrots, diced
2-3 stalks celery, diced
3-5 medium potatoes, cubed (about 3 cups)
5 cups water, vegetable stock, chicken stock or vegetable bouillon, dissolved
1 teaspoon salt 
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, basil or other herbs, chopped
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Sauté onions in olive oil or butter for 3-5 minutes or until golden. Add garlic, carrots and celery (and potatoes at this point if you’re cooking at high altitude) and sauté another 5 to 8 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Add potatoes (at sea level), corn and stock. Season with salt and half of the herbs; cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

For a creamy soup without the cream, remove 2 cups of soup and purée in a blender. Add the purée back to the soup.  Finish seasoning with additional salt, if necessary, the remaining herbs, and freshly ground pepper before serving.

(To make in a crockpot, sauté onions and garlic until tender in a skillet on the stovetop.  Add to crockpot along with remaining ingredients (reduce water to 4.5 cups) and cook on low while you’re away.  To finish, season to taste with fresh pepper and additional salt, if necessary, and add fresh herbs.)