Our child is back at college so the nest is empty again after nearly 6 months of Covid Quarantine. To keep my mind and heart distracted, I decided to create lunch from the Saturday morning farm stand haul. Here for your tastebuds’ enjoyment is what I am calling –

Summer Chowder

32 ounces chicken stock – homemade or prepared 

2 cups of water

2-3 ears of corn – cooked and kernels sliced off cobs

2-3 potatoes – peeled and diced to yield about 1 cup

1 T olive oil

1 small onion diced

1 t minced garlic

1 T butter

1 T flour

3 leaves of kale or simlar greens – shredded

1 T dried Italian seasoning – or herbs of your choice

Salt and Pepper to taste (I used 1 T salt and 1 tsp ground pepper)

Optional – 1 cup Heavy Cream 

Place the stock, water and corn cobs into a soup pot and heat over medium-high till stock begins to boil, then reduce to a simmer.  After 5 minutes of simmering, stir in corn kernels and diced potatoes. Cover and simmer while you cook the onions and garlic.  Note:  My favorite, no mess way to cook corn is to cut 1-2” off the bottom of the cob, with husks still on, wrap cob in a damp paper towel, and microwave on high for 5 minutes.  You can cook up to 3 ears at a time, but increase cooking time by 2 minutes.  Let cool a couple minutes then grab the top of the ear, silk and husks, and carefully squeeze and pull.  The clean cooked ear will slide out the bottom (might need a bit of coaxing) and you will have silk free cooked corn on the cob to enjoy.

In a skillet (I used cast iron) sauté diced onions in olive oil over medium heat until softened and lightly browned.  Add minced garlic, stir well and sauté a few more minutes, watching and stirring to prevent burning.  Add butter, once melted stir in flour letting it cook for 2 minutes to remove the raw flour flavor.    

With a whisk in hand, ladle up to one cup of the corn broth that has been simmering away into the sauté pan, whisking to combine the flour, broth and onions making a roux that will thicken and flavor the soup.  Once the roux comes together, use a spatula to transfer it to the soup pot.

Let soup simmer another 10 minutes then add salt, pepper and herb seasoning.  Soup can simmer, covered, for up to 30 minutes.   

Serve in bowls with the shredded greens on top, they will wilt with the heat of the broth.  Makes 4 luncheon servings.  

Option- just before serving stir in 1 cup of cream for an even richer chowder.    Enjoy!