Coconut Corn Chowder

Having recently gotten rid of most of the soup in the freezer and it being the middle of February, I'd had a hankering to make some sort of soup for awhile. I love making soup. Inspiration came in the form of a great deal at Kroger- yellow corn was 10 for $1. I had to pick through it, but I ended up finding 10 great looking ears of corn! I had some cream left over from making the cinnamon rolls, so I decided on a delicious chowder. I happened upon some coconut milk while picking up rice wine vinegar, so thought I'd put a twist on the traditional chowder. We had some fresh thyme left over from the brisket I made earlier in the week, so that's the herb of choice... and of course a healthy dose of garlic and onions. (Because really, what dish is complete without garlic and onions?) Following the lead from my good ol' ATK corn chowder recipe, I went with cutting the kernels of 4 of the cobs, and grating/milking the other 6 and keeping them separate.

With that big time consuming thing out of the way, I heated a big dutch oven on medium-high. Once it was good and hot, I put in a few chunks of my seasoning bacon from the farmer's market. While that was browning, I chopped up my onion and got a little butter. I added that to the pot, turned it to low, and let it cook covered for about 12-15 minutes, til the onions were browning, fragrant and soft. In the meantime, I diced potatoes, minced garlic, opened my coconut milk, measured stock and got a bay leaf and thyme. 

I took out the bacon chunks and set them aside, and added the garlic to the onions. When that was fragrant, I added 3 tablespoons of chia flour to the onion and cooked it for about two minutes. Next, I added the stock, stirring constantly. In with the potatoes, coconut milk, bay leaf, thyme, the bacon chunks and the grated corn/pulp mixture. Bring it to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until the taters are tender.

In with the kernel corn, the cream, a little salt and some pepper. Simmer until the kernels are tender but still crunchy. Toss the bacon and the bay leaf, then serve with bread. 

I didn't have any around, but I'd really like to add some curry powder to the next batch- I think it would complement this dish wonderfully. 

Coconut Corn Chowder

Adapted from ATK's The New Best Recipe cookbook

Ingredients

• 10 ears corn
• seasoning bacon (a few chunks) or a few slices bacon
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4-5 cloves garlic
• 3 Tablespoons flour (I used chia seed flour, making this gluten-free)
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 3 red potatoes, scrubbed and diced small
• 1 bay leaf
• fresh thyme leaves from 1-2 sprigs
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 cup cream
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

• Cut the kernels from 4 ears of corn, place in a bowl and set aside. Grate the remaining 6 ears, then milk the rest of the ears (use the back side of a knife to scrape the pulp out of the grated ears) set the kernels and pulp aside. 
• Heat a dutch oven over medium heat. When it's hot, add country bacon chunks. Let cook until browned and crispy. Add onion to the pot, cover and cook until browned and softened. Remove the bacon chunks  to the bowl of corn pulp and add minced or pressed garlic. Cook until fragrant, then add the flour, stirring for a couple minutes until incorporated and a paste forms. 
• Stirring constantly, add stock, followed by potatoes, bay leaf, thyme, coconut milk, bacon chunks and corn pulp mixture. Heat to boiling, then simmer until the potatoes are tender. Add the cut kernels and cream, return to a simmer and cook until the kernels are tender, about 5 minutes. 
• Serve and enjoy! (Tonight I had it with toasted rosemary-potato bread that's starting to get stale... Tomorrow I'll make that bread into croutons which will make great toppers for the rest of the week!)

American By Birth, Southern By the Grace of God: Maw-Maw Falls' Vegetable Soup

Maw-Maw Falls

The late, great Lewis Grizzard used to say he was "American by birth, Southern by the grace of God." I can identify. I love being from the South, and I love coming from a long line of amazing Southern cooks. I'm fortunate enough to have known both of my maternal great-grandmothers (who were, in fact, amazing Southern cooks), and remember times spent with them very well. Like so many other great memories, food plays a huge part in my memories of time spent with them.  Every Sunday we'd all head up to my Ma-maw and Pa-paw Ford's (Mom's dad's parents) house for a huge spread, with vegetables fresh from their garden out back and gorgeous, delicious desserts. I always had to help Ma-maw make the cornbread- it was my special job. (And the cast iron cornbread stick pan is hers- it makes the best cornbread ever. I highly recommend getting a stick pan if you're going to make Southern cornbread often. It has more surface area, and therefore more crusty goodness. Plus your cornbread looks like a corn cob- how fun is that?!)

My other great-grandma, Maw Falls lived with my grandparents and took care of me and my brother after school. She was always cooking up something tasty. One of my favorites was her vegetable soup. We'd come in the house after school and an electric pot would be sitting on the counter bubbling away and smelling so good. It was full of veggies, lots of them frozen or canned from the garden. In fact, I was asking my mom where to get "flat green beans" (pole beans) from the store, and she said, "Oh, I think those were the ones they canned..." So I have to settle for regular green beans until I can grow my own flat ones. In any case, here's Maw-Maw Falls' vegetable soup recipe.

Maw-Maw Falls' Vegetable Soup


Ingredients:

• carrots, diced or cut into rounds
• celery, diced
• onion, diced
• fresh or frozen peas (crowder, zipper, black-eye, pigeon, whatever you've got- I used some frozen lima beans from my grandpa's garden and a handful of frozen crowder peas)
• fresh or frozen okra (if frozen, about half a bag)
• half a head of cabbage, chopped
• fresh, frozen, or home-canned green beans (flat/pole beans are my favorite!)
• tomatoes- fresh if they're in season, home-canned or canned if not. 
• water 
• butter
• salt and pepper
• cayenne pepper
• bay leaf
• (optional stock- chicken, turkey, veggie)

Directions

• Saute carrots, onions and celery in a large dutch oven until softened. 
• Add the rest of the ingredients. (note: Maw-maw made hers with water and butter- I used some turkey stock I had frozen from Thanksgiving, my mom uses low-sodium chicken stock. The water/butter way works great, but takes a little longer for the flavors to meld)
• Let cook until vegetables are tender and flavors are melded. Adjust seasoning and serve with cornbread. 

The great thing about this recipe is you can put pretty much whatever you have lying around in it. Corn, potatoes, different beans, squash... the possibilities are endless. You can add some fresh herbs if you happen to have them- thyme is a good option. Have fun with this great (and super-healthy) soup!

Southern Cornbread
Adapted from Cooks Illustrated- this isn't my great-grandma's recipe (I'll post it another time) but it's fantastic!


Ingredients:

• 4 tsp. bacon drippings
• 1 cup stone-ground cornmeal
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/3 cup rapidly boiling water
• 3/4 cup milk (or buttermilk)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten

Directions:

• Put a daub of bacon drippings in each muffin tin, corn stick mold, or 8" round pan. Place pan on lower-middle rack and heat oven to 450. 
• Put half the cornmeal in a large bowl. In a small bowl, mix the remaining cornmeal and other dry ingredients and set aside.
• Pour bowling water into the bowl of just cornmeal and mash into a paste. Whisk in the milk gradually, working out the lumps. Whisk in the egg. 
• Once the oven is preheated, add the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Pour into the hot tins from liquid measuring cup. Bake 13-20 minutes, depending on size of pan.
• Remove from oven and immediately flip onto a wire rack, gently using a butter knife to pry it out if necessary. Cool 5 minutes and serve.