Betty Crocker Cookoff

Corn Chowder is Next!

Our next competition features corn chowder.  Connie will be the Betty Crocker cook this week and Bruce will be the challenger.  According to Betty Crocker, this corn chowder is "filling and flavorful -- one of our favorites".  With a comment like that we felt compelled to try it.  And how can you resist a recipe that includes canned potatoes?

Betty Crocker's Corn Chowder:

• 1/2 pound bacon, diced
• 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 cup chopped celery (with tops)
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 4 cups milk
• 1 can (1 pound 1 ounce) cream style corn
• 1 can (1 pound) tiny whole potatoes, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• Snipped parsley
• Paprika

In a large saucepan, fry bacon until crisp; remove and drain.  Pour all but 3 tablespoons drippings from saucepan.  Add onion and celery to drippings in pan; cook and stir until onion is tender.

Remove from heat; blend in flour.  Cook over low heat, stirring until mixture is bubbly.  Remove from heat.  Stir in milk.  Heat to boiling, stirring constantly.  Boil and stir 1 minute.

Stir in corn, potatoes, salt and pepper; heat through.  Stir in bacon.  Sprinkle each serving with parsley and paprika.

Makes 6 servings (1 cup each).

Challenger's Corn Chowder

Bruce is speculating that this dish is going to be the winner because of one special ingredient:  white cheddar cheese!  We shall see....

1 Tbsp unsalted butter 

1 strip of bacon or 1 teaspoon of bacon fat

1/2 large yellow onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

1/2 large carrot, chopped (about 1/3 cup)

1/2 celery stalk, chopped (about 1/3 cup) 

3 ears of sweet corn, kernels removed from the
   cobs (about 2 cups), cobs reserved

1 bay leaf

3 1/2 cups milk, whole or low fat

1 medium Yukon Gold potato, or Russet, peeled and diced

1/4 red bell pepper, chopped (about 1/4 cup)

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

1/2 cup white cheddar cheese

1 In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the bacon strip (skip this step for vegetarian option, just add more butter) and fry until the bacon renders its fat, but doesn't begin to brown, 3 or 4 minutes. Add the onion and sauté for 4 to 5 minutes, until soft. Add the carrot and celery and cook for 4 or 5 more minutes.

2 Break the corn cobs in half and add them to the saucepan. Add the milk and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a bare simmer. Cover the pot and cook for 30 minutes. Make sure the heat is as low as can be and still maintain a gentle simmer (on our stove we had to use the "warm" setting) to prevent scalding the milk on the bottom of the pan.

3 Discard the cobs, the bacon strip, and the bay leaf. Raise the heat, add the potatoes, red pepper, 1 teaspoon of salt, fresh ground pepper to taste, bring to a simmer and reduce the heat to maintain a simmer for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are almost fork tender.

4 Raise the heat, add the corn kernels and the thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Add cheese.

Serves 4