Corn Chowder

Before I get started, let me not deceive you. Not everything I use is organic. That is why I am changing the name of my blog from Mom's Cooking Organic...to Sur Mom's Table. Having said that, I do my best to shop organic first, and would much rather buy everything from a farmer's market if possible. Today, I was inspired by an end of season trip to the Port Austin Farmer's Market, which is one of my favorites. This trip yielded huge peppers, spaghetti squash, heirloom tomatoes and of course corn on the cob. I used the corn for what I hoped would be a delicious corn chowder. Before I started the chowder, I roasted 7 ears of corn on the grill. I experimented with 4 in foil and 3 in husks to see what I like better. My daughter and I both think that grilled corn tastes sweeter. For the chowder, I used a large pot and added 1/4 cup of olive oil first. Then, I cooked 10 oz. of bacon until brown and crunchy. I removed the bacon with a slotted spoon and added 3 diced white onions. I cooked the onions until translucent. Then, I added 1/2 cup of flour, 2 tsp of salt and some ground pepper. If I had white pepper, I would have opted for that. I stirred the flour, salt and pepper into the onions. I added two 32 oz packages of organic chicken broth, dropped in the diced potatos and boiled for 15 minutes. While boiling, I cut the corn off the cobs and added at the end of the 15 minutes. I turned the heat to low and added 2 cups of half and half, 1/2 tsp of curry and 2 tsp of sugar. Ilet the chowder simmer on low for 50 minutes while I baked the popovers. The recipe I used came from BLT Steak at the Betsy Hotel in South Beach. If you use this recipe, I recommend halving it...otherwise you'll end up with 12 popovers. Enough for a small army. To top it off, I added a bit of bacon, some shaved white cheddar and believe it or not - Corn Nuts. I tasted Corn Nuts on top of corn chowder at a lovely restaurant called Willow in Arlington, VA. Try it, you'll like it! Comfort food at its best!