Corn “Chowder”

Ingredients

• 6 ears of corn, cut from the cob*
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 2 ribs celery, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 russet baking potato, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 C. vegetable broth
• 1/4 C. fresh basil leaves, sliced thin into ribbons
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• Salt
• Pepper

Instructions

1. Heat soup pot on medium heat.  Add onion and a tiny pinch of salt and sauté  (water or oil**) until starting to brown.
2. Add celery, bell pepper, potato, garlic, and another small pinch of salt to the pot.  Cook for about 30-60 seconds.
3. Add 3/4 of the corn (about 3 C.) and the broth.  Cook until potatoes are good and soft.  10-15 minutes.
4. Using a spider or slotted spoon, remove 1 to 1.5 C. of the vegetables.  Keep and set aside.
5. Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until very smooth.
6. Add back reserved vegetables and corn back to the soup.  Bring to a simmer.
7. Remove from heat.  Add lemon juice and 3/4 of the basil.  Stir and taste for seasoning.  Add more lemon, salt, pepper as needed.
8. Serve hot with a pinch of fresh basil atop.***

Cook’s notes

* Or, if you’re cheating, approx. 4 C. frozen corn.  If you’re not cheating, use a trick from Alton Brown and scrape the back of your knife across the freshly cut cobs to extract extra corny goodness.

** Hippy stuff ahead.  But it works.

*** Don’t that look classy?

Based on ‘Corn and Basil Chowder’ from The Thug Cookbook.