Mark Bittman's Basic Corn (& Hominy) Chowder for Souper (Soup, Salad, & Sammie) Sundays

I wanted corn chowder but I also wanted to use up one of three large cans of hominy I had in my pantry so I decided to doctor up Mark Bittman's Basic Corn Chowder a bit, keeping it simple but adding the hominy and some extra touches to build the flavor you would get from fresh corn. 

Mark Bittman's Basic Corn (& Hominy) Chowder

Slightly Adapted from NYT Cooking

(Makes 4 Servings)

4 to 6 ea4s of corn (I used one 8 oz package frozen corn plus 1 (28-oz) can hominy)
1 Tbsp butter or neutral oil like canola or grapeseed

1 medium onion, chopped

1 stalk celery chopped

2 medium potatoes, peeled & diced (I used 1lb baby red potatoes, scrubbed & quartered)

(I used 1 tsp celery salt)

(I used 1 tsp dried thyme)

(I added 4 cups non-chicken broth)

salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tomatoes, cored, seeded & chopped (optional)

1 cup low-fat milk (I used 1 can coconut milk)

1/2 cup chopped parsley

 

1. Shuck corn, and use a paring knife to strip kernels into a bowl. Put cobs in a pot with 4 cups water; bring to a boil, cover and simmer while you continue.
2. Put butter or oil in a saucepan, and turn heat to medium-high. When butter melts or oil is hot, add onion and potatoes, along with a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion softens, about 5 minutes; add tomatoes and cook, stirring, for another minute or two.
3. After corncobs have cooked at least 10 minutes, strain liquid into onion-potato mixture; bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer. When potatoes are tender, add corn kernels and milk, and heat through. Taste, and adjust seasonings. Garnish with the parsley, and serve.

I skipped the corn step and started with sautéing the onions (and celery) and potatoes, then adding the spices and tomatoes. I also replaced the corn cob broth with non-chicken stock and followed the rest of the recipe pretty much as written, just replacing the milk with coconut milk.

Notes/Results: Just a simple flavorful corn chowder with lots of great texture from the bigger pieces of chewy hominy and the firm sweet pieces of corn. The coconut milk makes it rich and the added spices give extra flavor that you would get from fresh, in-season corn. It would be good with crusty bread. I would happily make it again. 

 Linking up to I Heart Cooking Clubs where this week is (Spring) Break It Up. 

 

Let's see who is here in the Souper Sundays kitchen this week: 

Crafty Gardener is here with Chicken Rice Soup, saying "Who can resist a tasty bowl of soup on a chilly or not so chilly day.I made some chicken rice soup out of an extra cooked chicken breast, some fresh veggies and some veggies from my frozen stash. Soup for two. This soup freezes well so you could double or triple the amounts to have some for the freezer to enjoy later. To save space in the freezer I freeze my soups flat in freezer bags."

Radha of The Magical Ingredients for a Wholesome Life From the Heart of My Home shared two recipes this week. First is this Homemade Whole Wheat Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta Salad, saying, "I used sun-dried tomatoes in the pasta dough and made the salad with fresh crunchy veggies, all flavored with balsamic vinaigrette. The crunchy topping is lovely in every bite." 

The second dish was Dal Sprouts Salad. Radha says, "This dal sprouts salad used simple whole dals that will be in every home. Instead of making curries alone, they are great as salad too. I often make sprouts and use them in curries, salad, and rice or paratha." 

Shaheen of Allotment2Kitchen brought Mexican-Style Black Eyed Beans Soup saying., "This is a Black Eyed Beans soup with red pepper happens to be vegan, but too tone down the spices, I garnished it with grated cheddar cheese for coolness. To make more of a substantial meal of it, i made cornbread. I remembered the packets of cornbread mix that my American friends brought over a couple of years back."

Thank you to everyone who joined me this 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!