Smoky Chipotle Corn Chowder

I know corn chowder seems like a weird thing to make when it's 95 degrees out and 300% humidity, but man, this chowdah hit the spot.

I've made bacon-based corn chowder in the past, but I didn't have any bacon in the house this weekend, and it was too hot to venture out to get some. So I thought the smoky chipotle in this recipe might make up for the smoky, meatiness of the bacon. It definitely did, no meat required! Thick, spicy, hearty... mmm.

The only changes I made to the recipe were to skip peeling the potatoes, used Cheddar instead of Monterrey Jack, pureed only half the chowah to keep some of the chunks, and skipped the ham.

Corn Chowdah

To all my loyal readership (ha!): I apologize for the break in regularly scheduled programming. I spent the week in Iowa on a "biofuels tour," which involved visiting corn and soybean farms, touring ethanol and biodiesel plants, and generally being harassed by industry representatives.

So in honor of my trip to Iowa (the corn state, the state where there are more hogs than people), I made a corn chowder, using this simple recipe from Tyler Florence, and sprinkled it with bacon bits. I used purple potatoes, corn, onion and parsley from my CSA, and substituted chicken broth for the veggie broth, and half-and-half for the heavy cream. Delicious and super easy! Say it, Frenchie: CHOW-DAH!