Chicken Chile Corn Chowder (with Bacon)

I ran across this recipe on Thursday on one of my favorite food blogs, La Bella Cook, and thought it would be the perfect dinner to accompany Thursday night TV. Curtis made me a Meyer lemon cocktail while I was cooking (because it was Thursday, so why not?) so I lost my desire to follow directions and kind of just put all the ingredients together in a pot … after all it is chowder. If you want the real recipe, please follow it on La Bella Cook. I also used a little bit more of everything because I was counting on leftovers to bring for lunch the next day.

Chicken Chile Corn Chowder
from La Bella Cook adapted from Jamie Oliver

Ingredients:
7 ounces sweet corn, fresh or frozen (I just dumped in ½ a bag of frozen corn)
1 small potato, peeled (I buy my produce at Costco, therefore my potato was NOT small)
3 cups vegetable broth (I used Pacific chicken broth since that’s what I had in my pantry)
1 small onion, chopped (again large, blame it on Costco)
1 stick of celery, sliced (I used 4)
1 medium fresh red chile
1 pat of butter
1 small bunch fresh thyme
3 scallions, sliced thin
1 ounce cheddar cheese, grated (Coastal, of course)
1/3 cup sour cream (a dollop for me, none for Curtis)
Olive oil
Black pepper
Sea salt
Rotisserie chicken, shredded (Costco)
Bacon, cooked ‘til crispy and crumbled

Directions:
Chop the onion and sauté it in olive oil until soft and a bit caramelized. While the onion is cooking, grate the potato in a food processor (or with a cheese grater) and slice the celery. Add the shredded potatoes, celery and butter to the onions and cook until the potatoes crisp up a bit like hash browns.

Dice the chile into small bits (I threw it all in because I like everything spicy hot but discard the seeds if you’re not a fan of heat) and add it to the potato mixture. Add the broth (I used the entire box – 32 oz.), thyme, corn, salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes. For more of a chowder/thicker consistency, use an immersion blender and blend it up a bit (I don’t have one, so I just put a few cups in a regular ‘ol blender and then added it back in).

Stir in the shredded chicken and heat for a few more minutes. Dish your chowder into bowls and top with sour cream, grated cheese, bacon bits and scallions.

I thought this would need more seasoning, but it was surprisingly very flavorful. In fact it was easy and delicious and I’ll definitely be making it again!