Ottolenghi's Sweet Corn Chowder with Spiced Butter for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

I could eat chowder every week in the summer. There is just something about the combination of good fresh sweet corn and potatoes and the creamy base that is so satisfying, even on a warm and humid day.  I have had this Ottolenghi recipe tagged for a while now, liking the idea of a drizzle of spiced butter on top of a veggie chowder.
 

Ottolenghi says, “I call this a chowder even though it lacks the non-veggie elements of the traditional New England varieties. The pungent herb butter added at the end gives it a nice kick (for even more spice, add half a thinly sliced green chilli with the potatoes). Though spicy, it's a very comforting dish that works well as a late weekend brunch.”

 

Sweetcorn Chowder with Spiced Butter

Slightly Adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi via TheGuardian.com

(Serves 4)

1 large leek, cut along its centre and then cut into roughly 1cm squares (I used 2, sliced)
3/4 tsp fresh thyme leaves
3 bay leaves
1 Tbsp olive oil
30g butter
2 celery sticks, cut into 1cm slices
2 medium waxy potatoes (220g in total), peeled and cut into 1cm dice (I doubled the potatoes)
500ml good quality vegetable stock (I used about 6 cups non-chicken stock)
4 fresh corn cobs, corn shaved off (I used 5 ears of Ewa sweet corn + 5 oz frozen corn)
300ml milk (I used 1 can coconut milk)
20g fresh coriander leaves, very roughly chopped

For the spiced butter:
3/4 tsp cumin seeds
3/4 tsp coriander seeds
60g butter
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
(I added 1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper)
sea salt and white pepper

Gently sauté the leek in a large saucepan along with the thyme, bay leaves, olive oil and butter. Once soft and slightly translucent, add the celery, potato and stock. Cook for about 10 minutes, until the potato is almost totally tender. It is important not to over-cook the potato, to ensure a nice, firmish texture in the finished soup.

Remove the bay leaves and add the corn to the soup. Transfer about a half of the soup into another pan and blitz until completely smooth. Return the blended mixture to the main pot and add the milk. Simmer for two to three minutes, taste, season with salt, and remove from the heat.

For the spiced butter, grind the cumin and coriander with a pestle and mortar, place in a dry frying pan, heat up and after about 30 seconds, when you can smell the aroma of the spices, add the butter, paprika, salt and white pepper. Stir to combine, and take off the heat as soon as the butter has melted.

To serve, ladle the soup into four bowls, drizzle each with spiced butter and top with the fresh coriander leaves.

Notes/Results: Chowder that is tasty enough on its own, but raised to the sublime level with the addition of the fragrant spiced butter which adds another layer of flavor and contributes to the silkiness of the soup. It's easy to make and the west coast--almost a California or maybe Baja California vibe it gets from the oil and the cilantro make it unique and a keeper recipe. As usual, Ottolenghi is dead on with the flavors. I will happily make it again.

Speaking of a California vibe, I am linking this soup up to I Heart Cooking Clubs where this week's theme is our monthly Cuisine Spotlight: California. Dishes from any of our IHCC chefs with California feeling ingredients and/or a California vibe.

 Now let's have a look in the into the Souper Sundays kitchen.

Tina of Squirrel Head Manor shared a classic BLT sandwich and said, "As I mentioned earlier I wanted to hook up with a few cooking events but alas......best laid plans. One of the days we were home watching over Aja we made simple BLT sandwiches. It wasn't a cool and unique offering for Deb`s Souper Sundays event but I think I will bring it to the party after all. Obviously you don`t need a recipe for a BLT. I like to load them with fat tomato slices and use the Trader Joe`s bread. That makes such good toast!"

 
Thanks to Tina for joining me this week!

About Souper Sundays:

Souper Sundays (going since 2008) now has a format of a picture link each week where anyone interested can post their soups, salads, or sandwiches at any time during the week and I post a recap of the entries the following week.

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here. 
If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up to Souper Sundays in order to be included in the weekly round-up.

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and add a link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to this post or my blog on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (completely optional).

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

  
 Have a happy, healthy week!