It’s legitimately cold here right now. I’m sure those in Minnesota would disagree, but highs barely leaving the 40s, I think, does qualify as “Cold”, especially for L.A. I love the cold. I much prefer it to the heat of summer. My thought is, when it’s cold, you can always put on another layer, but when you are hot, you can only take off so many layers before people start getting uncomfortable. Not to mention all the comforting ways to warm up; hot tea or cocoa, warm blanket, fireplace, and of course, hot soup. I love soup. Soup, Salad, and Bread and I’m happy. Last night was certainly a soup night!
I was really happy with this recipe. I can only assume it would be better with fresh corn instead of the frozen roasted corn from trader joe’s. I think the fact it was already “roasted” corn that made it a little tough. Fresh corn would be more tender and I think help it thicken a bit more.
Chowder is a lot like cobbler in the sense that it is regional. Different regions have very different styles. To me, chowder is thicker and creamy. This was more of a thin broth, the milk did make it creamy but I would have liked it a little thicker, personally. I don’t think that is a problem with the recipe as much as taste and what I define as “chowder”. Next time, I think I would add a slurry of masa to thicken it a bit. Even though it seemed thin, once I stirred the greek yogurt (which I actually prefer to sour cream) into my bowl, it was a great consistency.
Things I did different from the recipe:
1) I like a little heat to my soups, so while it simmered I slit open a jalapeno (not all the way in half, you still want it to stay together) and let it simmer in with the bay leaves. It’s really a great trick to add some subtle flavor without getting the full force of the jalapeno.
2) I added some bacon on top. Not particularly because I wanted bacon, but I needed to use it up. Truth is, it added a great smokiness to it that I think really brought it all together.
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I too, am a big soup, salad, bread guy. Acorn, tree, in close proximity and all. Love “chowda” and yours sounds very nice. Use to eat corn chowder in the hospital kitchen where I worked for a few years. I like mine thicker as you said, but when it comes to clam chowders I go either way, New England or Manhattan. I think if you added enough cracked ground pepper I wouldn’t miss the bacon at all! But then, I’m not one of those “bacon-philes” to begin with.