Corn Chowder

Over the weekend, my dad gave me a dozen ears of corn to bring back home with me. While I love corn and the sweet gesture (and hello, free food), I thought to myself, "What in the world am I going to do with 12 ears of corn?!" I recently checked out a few cookbooks from the library - testing out new cookbooks for free is one of the myriad of reasons I love the library. Armed with a couple of new books and more corn than I knew what to do with, I searched for a recipe that would use the most corn.

In The Conscious Cook, I found a recipe for corn chowder. I was on the fence about making it, because eating hot soup when the weather feels like a hot, wet rag on my face is debatable. I decided to go for it because summer is corn season, and hello, I had a ton of corn.

This recipe came together so wonderfully, and I'm convinced red peppers and corn were made for each other. And the secret ingredient - Tal's cashew cream - gives the soup such a delightful creaminess (without an overwhelming nutty flavor). My only bit of advice is to prep as much as you can before you start cooking. You have to chop up a few veggies, and shucking corn takes forever, so if you do these two steps before you start cooking, the process will be so easy! You can blend cashew cream while the veggies and broth simmer, but be sure to thoroughly blend everything.

Sauteing the vegetables.

Six ears of raw corn! I found it's easiest (and less messy) to hold the ear of corn

over the pot and cut the kernels directly into the pot.

Preparing the cashew cream.

Cashew cream!

The recipe called for two ears of roasted or grilled corn, so I threw in the remaining four ears along with what was needed for the recipe. Roasted (and grilled!) corn really brings out the sweetness of corn, and I may or may not have been snacking on ears of corn this week...