Corn Chowder

This might be my last post for awhile as I leave for London tomorrow.   Soon I will be hungry for Halifax!

I was really impressed by Kevin from Top Chef's Quickfire "deconstructed green bean casserole" from two weeks ago.  He made a corn pudding, topped with a confit of tomatoes and green peas that looked delicious.  So I thought I would make a corn chowder with a little tomato salad to go on top.  It was sooo good.  The soup was really creamy and simple.  And the tomato salad and the red peppers we had on the side, were perfect complements.

Vegan Corn Chowdah

Takes 30 minutes

Makes 4 big bowls of soup

1/2 large onion, diced

1 large garlic clove, sliced

1 very large potato, cubed

2 ears corn, shucked (not really sure if this is the right word.  get the kernels off the ears people)

4 cups water

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

In a pot on medium high heat, add some olive oil.  Saute the onions and garlic until translucent.  Add the potatoes and black pepper and saute for a couple of minutes.  Add the water and a 1/2 tsp. of salt.  Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to simmer.  After about 5 minutes, add the corn, and cook for about 5 minutes more.

Puree with a hand blender, or in batches in a regular blender.  Check for salt.

Tomato Confit

Takes 30 minutes

Makes 4 soup toppings

10 tomatoes, small yellow ones

salt

pepper

olive oil

basil or parsley or any herbs you want

Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cut tomatoes into quarters.  Toss with some olive oil, the salt and pepper and herbs.  Put into an oven-proof pan and "confit" for 20 minutes.

This would be so good on toast!

We ate the soup with roasted peppers--red and long skinny green one that was a little spicy.

I also made a new loaf of bread.  More on that experiment gone wrong later.  Wasn't it the cutest little dough ball though?

Dissertation here I come!