Corn Chowder – 30 Minutes or Less

When my mother was a child she was very sick. She spent a large part of her childhood in and out of the hospital. As I’m sure you can imagine, it was very hard on her. She a lot of bad memories from her early life. Because of this, she rarely talked about growing up.

One day, when I was twelve or thirteen, I was home sick from school with a cold. My mom asked me what I wanted for lunch and I said corn chowder. It was always one of my favourite things. Especially when I didn’t feel well.

Unsurprisingly, I ended up in the kitchen with her helping to make the chowder. As we put it together she told me about how when she was girl, when she was out of the hospital and going to school, she would come home at lunch. She didn’t have many friends because she was rarely at school so it was easier to come home than to sit alone.

She said she would often make corn chowder with a left over baked or boiled potato, a bit of onion, some creamed corn, and a bit of bacon. As my mom shared this story with me, she taught me how to make the chowder. I still to this day use her exact recipe almost every time I make it.

That recipe holds a very special place in my heart for a lot of reasons. None of which are more important, or meaningful to me than that afternoon when my mom taught me how to make it, and told me about when she was a kid.

It’s that recipe that I share with you today. I share it not just because you can make it in under 30 minutes. I share in hopes that one day you will it share with someone, and tell them a story that will bring you closer together.

This is…

Corn Chowder In 30 Minutes Or Less

5:45 pm

At 5:45 I started by peeling and dicing the potatoes. Then I rinsed them under cold water until the water ran clear. I covered the potatoes with hot tap water, seasoned it well with salt and put them on the burner over high heat.

5:50 pm

By 5:50 the potatoes were on and I was dicing the onion and bacon. Just before I start dicing the bacon I put a medium sized pot over medium heat. This way it will be ready to go once the bacon is cut up.

5:53 pm

The bacon goes into the pot. I always start with bacon, cook it for a few minutes, and then add the onions as I find this way I get well cooked bacon without burnt onions. An added bonus of this is that I don’t need to add any extra fat or oil to cook the onions in. Enough has rendered out of the bacon.

5:56 pm

After the bacon has had about 3 minutes to cook on its own, the onion go into the pot. I turned the heat down slightly as not to burn them. Now, just keep cooking the bacon and onions, stirring every once in a while until the bacon is cooked through and the onions are soft. It took about 10 minutes.

Also, right around this time, the potatoes started to boil. Because they are diced fairly small, they don’t take long to cook.

6:03 pm

The potatoes are cooked. I drained the water off of them and let them sit in the strainer until I was ready to add them to the chowder. This has the added benefit of allowing any excess moisture to evaporate while they sit. This will help prevent the chowder from getting watery.

I should say that you can use leftover boiled or baked potatoes for this. Just keep in mind that they are going to take a while to heat through.

6:06 pm

At 6:06 the bacon and onions were cooked. I strained them through a fine mesh sieve to remove any excess fat then returned them to the pot. I then added 1 can of creamed corn, 1 cup of heavy cream, 2 cups of 2% milk and a bit of salt and pepper.

6:10 pm

I decided to serve the corn chowder with some mixed salad greens tossed with a light vinaigrette. This a very common side dish in Quebec. It’s eaten with almost every meal. I find it to be a simple and delicious way to add some greens to a lunch or dinner.

At 6:10 I put together a quick vinaigrette using the following recipe.

Once the vinaigrette was done I gently tossed in the greens to lightly coat them. I served a big handful to each person with the chowder.

At this point the dairy in the chowder was pretty much hot. I added the still hot potatoes and turned the heat up slightly to give the chowder one final blast of heat.

6:14 pm

At 6:14 I seasoned the corn chowder to taste and then it was time to plate and serve it along with the greens.

Notes

As I’m sure you can understand this is the ultimate comfort food to me. It has a lot of sentiment attached to it. Beyond that, it is great for so many reasons. It works just as well on a rainy Sunday as it does on a busy Tuesday. Try it for yourself and share it with someone you love.

Also, for the more ambitious of you out there, this chowder goes really, really well with fresh tea biscuits.