
People occasionally ask if a recipe I post is original to me. I suppose they’re wondering if I envisioned it, wrote and tested, then published it. If that’s the case, the answer is probably uh, not really. While I’ve certainly followed those logical steps of recipe development before, most of my recipes are original simply because I’m not nearly that, well, logical.
My steps are more like:
- Buy a new cookbook- read it like a novel, ogle the gorgeous pictures while wondering how on earth someone gets themselves, their house, kitchen, food, and slightly overweight dog to look so pulled together for the photos.
- Decide you should make something for dinner because all this strenuous reading has made you hungry.
- Choose a recipe from the book based on a) the pretty picture, and b) the fact that you are absolutely sure you have at least three (okay maybe two) of the 19 ingredients called for.
- Make it. Taste it. Love it. Frantically write down what you did.
Voila! Original recipe.
That’s the sophisticated way this recipe came about. I was hungry, there were pretty pictures, and I had some shrimp (and I thought I also had celery and parsley and creamed corn and tomatoes) (but I knew I didn’t have shallots, because who actually has shallots?).
And also heavy whipping cream- well I did have some, but it was mostly all carton.
So, like I said, I had shrimp. (there was one brief moment of panic when I feared the shrimp might actually just be shrimp shells that I had saved in the freezer to make shrimp stock) Like that was ever going to happen.
And I definitely had poblanos, which I bought for some reason which now eludes me.
Anyway – I kind of followed the suggested steps in the instructions (although let’s be real, JT will tell you that I kind of dislike being told exactly what to do) with entirely different ingredients, and by golly if it didn’t turn out to be one of my top 5 ever!
Poblano and Shrimp Corn Chowder
Ingredients
4 slices bacon
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature
4 tablespoons flour
1 medium onion, diced
½ red bell pepper, diced
2 carrots, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 poblano peppers, seeded and chopped (or diced)
2-3 cups frozen corn
1 T. Better than Bouillon Chicken flavor
2 t. celery salt
½ cup heavy cream
1 can (10.5 oz) Cream of Chicken soup
4-5 cups chicken broth
¼ t. red pepper flakes
1 lb. shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped
¼ c. chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Finely chop all vegetables. An option is to pulse one of the chopped poblanos in a blender or food processor with about ½ c. of the chicken broth until pureed. (This will add nice color to the chowder and a greater consistency) While you’re chopping the vegetables, cook the bacon until crisp in a large Dutch oven. Remove the bacon to a plate, reserving at least two tablespoons of the bacon grease in the pan.
Add the butter and flour to the bacon grease and cook over medium heat for about 4-5 minutes stirring constantly. Add all vegetables, Better than Bouillon, and celery salt and sauté until soft, about 6-8 minutes.
Add the heavy cream, Cream of Chicken soup, chicken broth and red pepper flakes; bring to low boil. Reduce heat and cook for about 5 minutes. Add shrimp and cilantro; simmer until shrimp are cooked through, about 5 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.
*To thicken, stir together 2 T. flour and 2 T. softened butter to make a paste and add, stirring until thickened, or add chicken broth to thin.
Serve with crumbled bacon, more chopped cilantro, and queso fresco cheese.