Smokey Corn and potato chowder

Hey there! Hope you're all doing well and getting prepared for Christmas. It just snuck up on me, really, but today we went out and got all our shopping done. I even stopped with my husband and bought a tasty iced coffee beverage. Unfortunately, I have almost no feeling in my lips after surgery, and don't have a clue how to use them sometimes, so after pathetically trying to use the straw for about 10 minutes, I gave up and took it home with me, where I poured it into a sippy cup. Oh well, at least I tried!

Another thing that's sneakily snuck up on me is the cold weather. I've been cold all the time the past couple weeks anyway, but it got shockingly cold out there all of a sudden. At least there's no snow yet here. The cold weather calls for comfort food, and I've been craving the warmth and nostalgia of corn chowder. Also....I can't have anything but liquid food and mush, so there's that.

This soup is a warming mixture of smokey and sweet with just a hint of thyme and chili that warms from the inside out. Pair with a delicious, warm crusty bread slathered in butter and you have the perfect meal for a chilly evening. The best part is that it's a one-pot meal!

What you'll need

1 pack (around 400 g) bacon in strips
1 tbsp oil
2 medium onions, finely diced
2 cloved of garlic, crushed
2 carrots, finely diced
4 medium potatoes, diced
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp chili flakes
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
300 ml vegetable stock
700 ml milk
300 g frozen corn
150 ml cream
salt
pepper
half a lemon

Instructions

Slice your bacon into small pieces and fry them together with a bit of oil in a pot. Once browned, add diced onion, garlic, and carrot to the pot together with dried thyme and sweat approximately 5-7 minutes. Sprinkle the onions with flour, stir well and cook a few minutes, before adding water. Mix well to evenly mix flour through the water and add milk and potatoes. Bring to a simmer and stir often. This soup sticks and burns easily to the bottom of the pot so keep a close eye on it. If this happens, pour contents into a clean pot and continue.

Once the potatoes are cooked through, add in corn and cream. Bring to a simmer and cook a further 10-15 minutes until corn is heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste, add a squeeze of lemon to cut through the richness and chili flakes for just a touch of heat. This soup would be excellent with some finely diced chicken breast and a good crusty roll slathered in butter on the side.

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Keep warm out there, and until next time, stay chefy!