What in the Heck is Corn Chowder and How Do You Make a Good One?
In between college semesters, I lived up north in Brunswick, Maine. I am not sure I had ever had a chowder until I spent some time in New England. If you're like me and hail from Kentucky too, it's possible you're not even really sure what a chowder is.
Maybe this will help. Here's the Dictionary.com definition:
Chowder- thick soup or stew made of clams, fish, or vegetables, with potatoes, onions, and other ingredients and seasonings.
If that didn't help all that much, maybe this will (minus the absurdly robotic voice).
But you know what? The robot's right. There are all kinds of chowder and we're sharing a recipe for one this week on my radio show's What's Cookin'? segment.
The UK Cooperative Extension Office has served up an incredibly hearty recipe for Cheese and Corn Chowder. It looks like this!
Now, here's how to make it!
CHEESE AND CORN CHOWDER
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 medium celery stalk, diced
1 (15.25-ounce) can no-salt-added whole kernel corn, drained
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup skim milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
DIRECTIONS:
Step #1: Gently scrub potatoes and celery under cool running water before preparing. Gently rub onion under cool running water before preparing as well.
Step #2: Put all ingredients except milk, flour, and cheese into a 2-quart slow cooker.
Step #3: Stir to combine.
Step #4: Cover and cook on high for three hours or until vegetables are tender.
Step #5: Whisk milk and flour together. Make sure no lumps remain and the flour has fully dissolved. Add to slow cooker. Mix well.
Step #6: Cover and cook on high 30 minutes longer.
Step #7: Stir. Ladle into bowls, and sprinkle cheese evenly on each bowl.
Pretty simple, right? It is. But this chowder is packed full of cheesy goodness and flavor and, like all recipes developed by the UK Cooperative Extension, it's designed to feed a lot of mouths for a relatively inexpensive price.
Here's the cost breakdown this particular recipe, which yields five servings. The total cost of the recipe is $3.88. That makes the cost per serving (1 cup) just $.78.
What's Cookin'? is sponsored weekly by Kentucky Legend. If you'd like to see some recipes featuring delicious and award-winning Kentucky Legend ham, CLICK HERE.