Poblano Corn Chowder

This is an alternative version (though not much changed) of a recipe I found by “Mudflower” over on Recipezaar. I change a few methods here and there to make the preparation easier, and often make a one and a half times sized recipe, which just fills our ten quart pot (so you’ll want a reasonably large one even when making the regular amount).  The soup that results is really damn good — spicy, for sure, but with a lot of flavor surrounding that heat, lots of nicely developed corn flavor.

You can look at the original recipe if you like at the link above, but I’m going to supply my take on it here, embellished by the experience of making it several times.  Takes between 1 and 2 hours to get to the result, depending on how slow you are (I tend to be a bit slow). Enjoy!

The Hardware

• A big soup pot (mine is 10 quarts, but for a single batch you could probably do 6)
• Large nonstick skillet
• Knife
• Cutting board
• A wide shallow bowl or two and some other bowls (3-ish) to store the prepped components as you work
• Wooden spoon
• A stick blender unless you really love messes and hassles

The Software

(I’m dividing some of these into groups, because their yield can be put together in one storage solution as you’re doing your prep. I’m also trying to order ingredients in order of procedural need. I’m being OCD. Bear with me.)

• 8 cups of chicken broth (or vegetable broth, but I’ve only done chicken)

Group A

• 8 ears of corn, as fresh as possible
• 5 medium idaho russet potatoes, cut into one inch cubes (approximate)

Group B

• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 large red onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped (you can add a second for extra color)
• 1 orange bell pepper, chopped

Group C

• 2 poblano peppers, seeded and chopped into small pieces (providing milder heat and some flavor)
• 4 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped

Group D (I put group D in a small glass bowl, apart from the other stuff

• 2 chipotle chiles in adobo (they come in a can); I like the spicy, so I chop these up somewhat finely, but you can leave them whole and fish ‘em out later if you’re lightweight on spicy
• approximately 2 tablespoons of adobo sauce from the can (avoid this if you’re one of the aforementioned lightweights)

Group E

• 1 cup of cream
• 8 ounces of monterey jack (low-fat if for some crazy reason you’re worried about that, but why, god, why) or mexican queso fresco (haven’t used this latter option, but it’s intriguing). I use the pre-shredded stuff as it melts most easily, but if you’re not, you can probably get away with cutting this into small cubes.
• cilantro, for garnish

The Process

1. Remove the kernels of corn from the cobs with a knife.  I like to do this in a wide, low bowl so I can easily maneuver the knife but contain the corn kernels as they shoot off when cut.   When the bowl gets full, transfer the kernels into a larger more general purpose bowl (where you’ll be storing the cubed potatoes as well).  Once you’ve cut off all of the kernels — and there will be a lot — take about a cup of them and set that aside. DO NOT TOUCH that set-aside cup until much later (step 14).

2. Toss the stripped cobs into your giant soup pot and pour in the chicken broth. Boil them together for 15-20 minutes.  While things are a-boilin’, continue with the prep.  (When the time’s up, you’ll remove the pot from the heat — see step #7)

3. Cut up the potatoes and store them with the kernels of corn. (At the end of this you’ll be wielding a stick blender at the results, so don’t worry too much about getting perfect one inch cubes. Hack away!)

4. If you haven’t yet, get your onion and bell peppers cut up and put into one bowl. Chop up your poblano peppers and garlic and put those in another bowl. Again, remember that there’s a blender on the far side of this stuff, so you don’t have to spend a lot of time making sure you’re cutting evenly sized pieces here.

5. Melt the butter in your nonstick skillet, then saute the chopped onions and bell peppers (group “B”) until just tender. For me, this takes 5-10 minutes and rides right alongside the cob-boiling.

6. Add the garlic and poblanos (group “C”) into the skillet along with the stuff that’s already in there, and let that go for another 5-10 minutes to tenderize as well.

7. By or before this point, your broth should have boiled enough.  When that timer goes off, remove the cobs from the pot (onto a plate or back into one of the vacated bowls) and let them cool.  Move your broth off of the heat and let it rest for a bit while the rest of the stuff above catches up.

8. When the cobs are cool enough to handle, use a butter knife or spoon to scrape the remaining bits of corn off the cobs, into a bowl (again: wide, short), and then empty that into the broth.  This massively ramps up the corn flavor, but it’s a bit of a pain; the pain is worth it.

9. Dump the onion/pepper/garlic mixture into the broth pot.  Add in the chipotles and the adobo sauce in whatever configuration you’ve decided on (group D).

10. Put the pot back on the heat and bring it all to a boil. Once it boils, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

11. Add the potatoes and the corn (but NOT the cup of corn you set aside) and continue simmering for 20-30 minutes, until the potatoes are just past al dente (keeping their shape, but mashing easily with pressure from a spoon).

12. Turn off heat, remove pot. Add the cream.

13. If you are a right-thinking cook and have a stick blender, blend away, mixing the cheese in. Once around each location of the pot should do most of the trick.  You want to pulverize lots of the big chunks, but still leave plenty of texture and the occasional larger piece. If you’re stuck without a stick blender … buy a stick blender. But I’m told by the original recipe that you can ladle half or so of the soup into a blender, which you’ll probably have to do in batches, and go to town that way. I prefer my method by a country mile.

14. With the cheese all melted in and everything blenderized, now stir that cup of corn kernels in.  They’ll warm up, but they won’t quite cook, giving you lovely fresh-corn bursts of flavor as you eat the soup.  America’s Test Kitchen recommended this to me once with another soup, and I’ve never looked back. I use the technique whenever it makes sense.

15. Don’t forget that you have cilantro for garnish (I usually forget, then regret, but hey, I make quarts and quarts of the stuff, and it freezes up real good). If everyone likes cilantro, just add a nice torn-up handful to the pot and stir.

16. Call everyone to dinner.

17. Receive praise.