Corn chowder recipes?

[readingredhead]

Almost a year ago, I moved away from Berkeley, CA where one of my favorite comfort foods year-round was corn chowder from a restaurant called Smart Alec's (their motto: healthy food fast!). I've tried to reproduce it once or twice but it never comes out thick enough and the flavor is always too bland. I've lost the recipes I tried last summer and

Comments

[parapraxess]

This is my go-to recipe.

* 2 tablespoons butter
* 1 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 onion, diced
* 2-4 garlic cloves, minced
* 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, minced
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 6 cups vegetable or chicken stock
* 2 cups heavy cream
* 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
* 6 cups corn
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* Bacon as topping/garnish

Heat the butter and olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and thyme and cook until the vegetables are good and soft, 8 to 10 minutes. Dust the vegetables with flour and stir to coat everything well. Pour in the vegetable stock, and bring to a boil. Add the cream, cumin, and the potatoes, bring to a boil and boil hard for about 7 minutes, until the potatoes break down. Add corn to the soup. Season with salt and pepper and simmer until the corn is soft, about 10 to 12 minutes. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.

I like to add smoked paprika to mine. My husband likes it quite spicy, adds cayenne or minced chipotle chiles in adobo to his. Makes 8ish servings.