Moving on from rage...
Mostly so my new readers don't decide that I'm just a ranting ball of ragey rantingness. I mean--don't get me wrong. I totally am. I just happen to have other hobbies.
...Really.
So, on Sunday, I took out four chicken breasts to defrost for Monday's dinner (one for me, one for shogunhb, and the others for ddrpolaris and/or leftovers), forgetting that shogunhb has game on Monday night. So then I decided to make chicken corn chowder for dinner for my Tuesday game. I'm firmly of the 'you use defrosted chicken in three days or you throw it away' opinion.
Of course, we ended up using hippy chicken because making doompuppy starve isn't very nice though funny so I still have the four breasts leftover. Why, yes, we are having chicken tonight.
So anyway, I spent some time scrounging the internet for corn chowder recipes. Except 99% of them included the ingredient 'creamed corn' which I'd be hard-pressed to eat during famine. So, I decided that I would look for some recipes for clam chowder and make the rest up as I went along. In the end, I found two I liked, cherry-picked from both of them and made up my own recipe.
It was the best part of the evening. I made an entire stockpot full and it was gone by the time dinner was over. I was the only one who didn't go back for seconds (I was full). Even k1ttycat, who assured me at the beginning of the night that she disliked corn chowder, thought it was delicious.
In her defense, all the corn chowder she'd ever had was made with creamed corn. Seriously, that stuff is vile.
So, as best I can, I will duplicate the recipe here. All measurements are kind of handwavey, except where specifically noted.
shadowravyn's Best Ever Chicken Corn Chowdah
Ingredients
*bacon, cut up in pieces
*celery, sliced
*carrots, sliced
*onion, in chunks
*3 TBs butter
*8 potatoes (four Russet, four white)
*4 TBs flour
*chicken broth
*1 bag frozen corn
*4 breasts boneless, skinless chicken
*half-and-half
*Adobo
*black pepper
*oregano
*parsley
*dill
First, cut the chicken breasts up into chunks, and season them with the spices. Add a bit of olive oil to a skillet and brown the seasoned chicken chunks. Set aside when they're done (usually I keep them covered at a really low temp to keep them warm and moist--gah, I hate that word).
Next, peel potatoes, cut into chunks, put in a pot of boiling water. Cook for about 5-8 minutes.
I used two kinds of potatoes because they each do different things. Russets dissolve more in cooking, which makes the chowder thicker and they're better at picking up the flavor of whatever they're cooked with. Waxy potatoes (we used white because they were on sale), are firmer, so you can get bites of actual potato. It was a good combination, I think.
Then, chop up the bacon, carrots, onions, and celery. Fry the bacon in a large saucepot until it is brown, but still soft. Add the butter, the chopped veggies, and another round of seasoning to the same pot. Saute until veggies are tender.
By the way, many thanks go out to k1ttycat, for being sous-chef extraordinaire.
Add the flour, stirring briskly to make a roux. Add chicken broth to the roux. Cook, stirring, until the broth has thickened.
I used 2 1/2 cups of broth for this step. However, I had to add more later, as I realized there wouldn't be enough broth to cover the potatoes
Once the broth is thickened, cover and leave to simmer for about 10-12 minutes. Add the chicken, the frozen corn, and the potatoes. Add more seasonings.
Let that simmer for about another 5-7 minutes, then add the half-and-half. And maybe more seasonings. I generally season to taste.
The recipe called for 1 1/2 cups of half-and-half, but I ended up using about a pint.
Simmer about another 3 minutes, which should be enough time for it to heat all the way through. Serve with thick, crusty bread. Have seconds.
...Really.
So, on Sunday, I took out four chicken breasts to defrost for Monday's dinner (one for me, one for shogunhb, and the others for ddrpolaris and/or leftovers), forgetting that shogunhb has game on Monday night. So then I decided to make chicken corn chowder for dinner for my Tuesday game. I'm firmly of the 'you use defrosted chicken in three days or you throw it away' opinion.
Of course, we ended up using hippy chicken because making doompuppy starve isn't very nice though funny so I still have the four breasts leftover. Why, yes, we are having chicken tonight.
So anyway, I spent some time scrounging the internet for corn chowder recipes. Except 99% of them included the ingredient 'creamed corn' which I'd be hard-pressed to eat during famine. So, I decided that I would look for some recipes for clam chowder and make the rest up as I went along. In the end, I found two I liked, cherry-picked from both of them and made up my own recipe.
It was the best part of the evening. I made an entire stockpot full and it was gone by the time dinner was over. I was the only one who didn't go back for seconds (I was full). Even k1ttycat, who assured me at the beginning of the night that she disliked corn chowder, thought it was delicious.
In her defense, all the corn chowder she'd ever had was made with creamed corn. Seriously, that stuff is vile.
So, as best I can, I will duplicate the recipe here. All measurements are kind of handwavey, except where specifically noted.
shadowravyn's Best Ever Chicken Corn Chowdah
Ingredients
*bacon, cut up in pieces
*celery, sliced
*carrots, sliced
*onion, in chunks
*3 TBs butter
*8 potatoes (four Russet, four white)
*4 TBs flour
*chicken broth
*1 bag frozen corn
*4 breasts boneless, skinless chicken
*half-and-half
*Adobo
*black pepper
*oregano
*parsley
*dill
First, cut the chicken breasts up into chunks, and season them with the spices. Add a bit of olive oil to a skillet and brown the seasoned chicken chunks. Set aside when they're done (usually I keep them covered at a really low temp to keep them warm and moist--gah, I hate that word).
Next, peel potatoes, cut into chunks, put in a pot of boiling water. Cook for about 5-8 minutes.
I used two kinds of potatoes because they each do different things. Russets dissolve more in cooking, which makes the chowder thicker and they're better at picking up the flavor of whatever they're cooked with. Waxy potatoes (we used white because they were on sale), are firmer, so you can get bites of actual potato. It was a good combination, I think.
Then, chop up the bacon, carrots, onions, and celery. Fry the bacon in a large saucepot until it is brown, but still soft. Add the butter, the chopped veggies, and another round of seasoning to the same pot. Saute until veggies are tender.
By the way, many thanks go out to k1ttycat, for being sous-chef extraordinaire.
Add the flour, stirring briskly to make a roux. Add chicken broth to the roux. Cook, stirring, until the broth has thickened.
I used 2 1/2 cups of broth for this step. However, I had to add more later, as I realized there wouldn't be enough broth to cover the potatoes
Once the broth is thickened, cover and leave to simmer for about 10-12 minutes. Add the chicken, the frozen corn, and the potatoes. Add more seasonings.
Let that simmer for about another 5-7 minutes, then add the half-and-half. And maybe more seasonings. I generally season to taste.
The recipe called for 1 1/2 cups of half-and-half, but I ended up using about a pint.
Simmer about another 3 minutes, which should be enough time for it to heat all the way through. Serve with thick, crusty bread. Have seconds.