Chipotle Cheddar Corn Chowder

Feb 20, 2013 by Lindsey

This chowder makes me feel like the best cook ever.

 

It is tasty.

It is cheesy.

It is spicy.

It has hominy in it. Hominy is such a great food word.

It is cheesy.

It will make you want to share my blog with everyone. Hopefully.

Got the point? All in all, I have been tooting my own horn ever since I made this amazing chowder. I wish I could say it was my dazzling cooking skills, but really, this is just a great recipe that anyone can enjoy. I put some adobe and bell peppers, cream, broth, 3 different kinds of corn, spices, potatoes, cheddar, then topped it all with some avocado. Words cannot describe how amazing this turns out. Thick, sweet, spicy, and good to the last spoonful.  I am excited for you to try it!

Here is how you make my Chipotle Cheddar Corn Chowder (a.k.a. Lindsey Soup around here)

Time: 45 minutes (including prep)

Serves: 4-6 bowls

Ingredients

• 4 table­spoons unsalted butter
• 1 tea­spoon cumin
• 1/2 tea­spoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• a dash of pepper, to taste
• 2 chipo­tle chili’s–diced with 2 tablespoons of the adobo sauce (I would say this is a “medium” heat level for those who are not used to the distinct kick of adobo sauce – adjust with more or less sauce to taste)
• 3 celery stalks, sliced into half-moons
• 1 green bell pepper–diced
• 4 large cloves garlic–minced
• 4 table­spoons flour
• 2 cups 1/2 & 1/2
• 3 or 4 cups chicken stock/broth
• 1/2 tea­spoon kosher salt
• 2 large rus­set potatoes–diced medium
• 2 cups sharp cheddar
• 1 (16oz.) can hominy 
• 1 small can cream style corn
• 1/2 cup frozen sweet white corn kernels
• 1 avocado–diced (for garnish)

Instructions

1. In large, heavy pan, heat but­ter over medium-high heat.
2. Add cumin, oregano, and paprika. Stir for one minute until butter is melted.
3. Add chipo­tle chilis. Let sweat until they turn a bright color. 
4. Add celery and pep­per. Sauté until they begin to soften.
5. Add gar­lic. Sauté 1 minute while stirring.
6. Add flour and stir to make roux.
7. When it clumps together, slowly stir in liquids. You will need to keep stirring every 3-5 minutes to prevent the cream from developing a film on top.
8. Add diced pota­toes and let sim­mer until pota­toes are tender. (20 minutes)
9. In the last 10 minutes, add grated cheeses in small hand­fuls, stir­ring until melted. I turned the heat down low for this.
10. Add drained hominy, frozen corn, and cream style corn.
11. Serve with avocado garnish.

Little else needs to be said in favor of my chipotle cheddar corn chowder. I have never had soup this delicious in all my life. Spicy, sweet, savory, and oh-so-satisfying. You don’t even need a side dish. The avocado garnish balances perfectly with the spicy chipotle peppers and cheesy broth. Go make yourself a bowl!

Lots of love,

Lindsey

 

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Hearty Lasagna Soup

Jan 23, 2012 by Lindsey

This weekend was a blur. I am in class 7 days a week, so my Mondays feel like Saturdays, albeit with better TV. A lot of great things went on, though. I made this amazing soup on Sunday night, had dinner with friends on Friday, and I got a new dishwasher!

To many of you, this is understandably not a big deal. However, once you live for two months without a functioning dishwasher, you would understand why I did a happy dance when it was installed. I’m pretty certain that women like me were using dishwashers before they could legally vote, so I am glad to be caught up now. What did I cook to celebrate this week?

My version of Lasagna Soup.

My shiny new dishwasher was put to use quickly, as I had been waiting for it to be installed to cook this wonderful soup. I loosely based my version of lasgana soup from this one, substituting a few things like whole turkey sausage, beef stock, and cavatelli pasta. It was a hit in my house! This is more of a “stew” than a soup because the pasta absorbs so much of the liquid in the broth. You’ll find that serving up bowls of hot sausage, pasta, and cheese with fresh italian rolls just feels right on a wintery Sunday night. It tastes like a sweet, tomato-y, cheesy version of your favorite lasagna. We were happy campers at the end of this dish.

You really must know how I did this.

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 8 links of italian turkey sausage, halved and sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 6 cups beef broth
• 1 medium can of diced tomatoes with italian seasoning
• 1 box small pasta, like cavatelli (fusilli would also be great)
• Cheese Topping: 1/2 cup ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup parmesean cheese, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper

Instructions

Using a large soup pot, brown the sausage in olive oil.

After 2-3 minutes, add the garlic, onion, and red pepper flakes and sautee over medium-high heat.

When the onions are translucent and fragrant, add the tomato paste and stir for about four minutes, until it begins to turn a “burnt,” dark red color.

When the tomato sauce has begun to change colors, add the diced tomatoes and beef broth. Turn up the heat and bring the mixture to a boil.

At this point, it smelled so good that I was nudging hungry puppies and fiancees aside to keep them out of my blog photographs. They were all interested in what was going on! As soon as the soup begins to boil, add the whole box of cavatelli pasta. These little shells look so inviting!

Turn the heat down to a simmer and allow the pasta to cook  in the soup for approximately 8 minutes. Turn the heat off when the pasta is al dente (slightly firm), and the noodles will continue to cook fully while soup comes to room temperature.

While the pasta was cooking, I put 8 Whole-Foods brand frozen french rolls in the oven to serve with the soup. I was not excited about these rolls at first, but my goodness! They were delicious! Hot, fluffy, and hearty enough to hold up next to this robust lasagna soup. I’ll be buying these again.

Before serving the soup, mix the ricotta cheese, parmesean, salt and pepper together in a bowl. Top each bowl of soup with a generous tablespoon or two of the cheese mixture. As you eat, the cheese will permeate every nook and cranny of the noodles and sausage. A sprinkle of low-fat shredded mozzarella never hurt anyone, either. This is what puts the “lasagna” in lasagna soup.

Yum. This soup is surpringly sweet, tomato-y, cheesy and extremely hearty. The rolls were a perfect accompaniment to our dinner. I loved mixing the cheese in and watching it melt into the nooks of the tiny cavatelli noodles.

You’re going to love this. It’s one of the best soup recipes I’ve ever made.

I hope this brightens your week! Back to the books for this girl!

Lots of love,

Lindsey

 

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Baked Potato Soup

Nov 28, 2011 by Lindsey

I almost ruined the potatoes at this year’s Thanksgiving.

Yep. The girl with a food blog? That would be me.

And I almost ruined the potatoes at this year’s Thanksgiving.

One of the pitfalls of having a blog about cooking is that people expect me to cook perfect meals all the time. Well, truth be told, it doesn’t quite work that way. Here’s a piece of advice for you: Did you know that uncooked frozen potatoes turn purple? Can you imagine, at 10:30AM on Thanksgiving Day, opening up your tin-foil covered casserole to find that your scalloped potatoes had turned purple? I can, because it happened. I quickly discarded my attempt at a “make-ahead casserole” on Thanksgiving Day and went to Randall’s to buy more potatoes for the meal. I made a lovely batch of mashed potatoes to accompany our dinner. No one has to know about the purple potatoes except us. And the whole internet.

On Sunday, of course I returned home from Austin to see three giant russet potatoes staring back at me in my refrigerator, only reminding me of my gaff. I also had nothing to blog about for today. So, I turned my potato karma around and made a truly delicious batch of baked potato soup.

This recipe is loosely adapted from “Cooking Light” magazine, using lowfat milk, lowfat sour cream, no butter, and lots of simple spices. It is a great soup to serve alongside baked ham-and-cheese sliders, or with a crusty piece of bread. Here’s how I did it:

Ingredients (not pictured):

About 2 cups of coarsely mashed baked potatoes.

4 cups of 2% milk

3/4 cup of flour

1 cup of lowfat sour cream

1 cup of grated cheddar cheese

Plenty of salt and pepper to taste)

More cheese and chopped bacon for serving.

Instructions:

Do what you need to do to get 2 cups of fresh mashed potatoes. I baked my potatoes at 400 degrees for one hour, pierced with a fork and drizzled with olive oil. In a large bowl, use a knife and fork to chop them up. The steam will continue to cook and soften them while you prepare the other ingredients.

While the potatoes are set aside, heat the milk and flour in a large stock pot. Whisk over medium heat for about 6 minutes.

When the flour and milk sauce is smooth and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, add the cheddar cheese, sour cream, and mashed potatoes. Season generously with salt and pepper. Once the ingredients are combined and heated through, the soup is thick enough that it can be served immediately.

I topped mine with cheddar cheese and chopped bacon. I also prepared some baked ham-and-cheese sliders to enjoy for lunch throughout the week.

The red wine added Vitamin C and antioxidants to our meal…

The baked sliders added protein…

The soup was just proof that I do know how to cook potatoes.

Hope you enjoy! Have a great week!

Lindsey

 

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