blog postings for chowder

I brought home some lobsters from our photo shoot on Friday and as I had 3 ears of fresh corn, set my sights on making corn chowder with lobster over the weekend. I found a recipe from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food that I had saved and made it Sunday night. Of course I used the recipe only as a guide and when it was all said and done, I really hadn't followed the recipe at all--just the procedure. Instead of bacon I started with country ham, that a friend of mine makes--it's good stuff. In the drippings, I sauteed onion, and potatoes, and added a bit of butter, as the ham didn't have as much fat as bacon. Then I immersed the corn cobs, and the lobster shells and a bit of thyme in the 3 cups of milk--I used 2% instead of whole as that's what I had--and simmered for about 15 minutes to extract all the good corn and lobster flavor. (You can do the same thing with shrimp and shrimp shells.) I added that with the fresh corn to the potato/onion mixture that had a tablespoon of flour mixed in. That was simmered for about 15 minutes until thick and fragrant. In went the chopped lobster meat, the reserved country ham, some parsley and basil, and a handful of slivered greens that were also leftover from photo. A great ending to a fine weekend. Yum. Here's the recipe:

Fresh Corn and Lobster Chowder

4 ounces country ham or bacon

1/2 onion chopped

2 potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 tablespoon butter (depending on the drippings from the ham or bacon)

1 heaping tablespoon flour

3 ears fresh corn

4 cooked lobster tails, or 1 pound shrimp

3 cups 2% milk

pinch thyme

salt and pepper

fresh chopped parsley

fresh chopped basil

handful of chopped greens (such as mustard or collard) or spinach 

1. Place ham or bacon in a Dutch Oven or large saucepan. Saute 10 minutes or until ham or bacon is crisp. Remove ham, add onion and potato to drippings in pan and saute 10 minutes. Add butter, melt. Add flour, cook 5 minutes. 

2. Place corn cobs and lobster shells and thyme in a large skillet. Add milk; bring to a boil and simmer on medium low about 15 minutes. Strain milk into potato onion mixture. Add corn. Simmer 20 minutes until fragrant and creamy. Add reserved ham, lobster meat, parsley, basil and greens Season with salt and pepper.