Corn Chowder

For Sunday's dinner I picked up some Argent Corn from the grocer.  Argent is a white sweet corn variety and for some reason I am enamored with white sweet corn this season.  I bought a dozen ears and cooked them all.

I had seven ears left over so I cleaned the corn for the cobs and planned to just refrigerate the corn for later but those cobs looked so inviting I decided to make a vegetable broth out of them. I filled a stock pot with 2 quarts of water and added the cobs, unpeeled onion,  halved, unpeeled carrots, a few garlic clove smashed and a bit of celery. I had a tub of vegetable broth (Knorr Stockpot) I also added with a few peppercorn, some salt and a few sprigs of fresh thyme. I let that simmer away for a bit then strianed it all and put it the fridge till last night.

Corn Chowder

2 quarts of vegetable broth
2 cups of corn off the cob
1 red pepper chopped
1 jalapeno chopped
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 med onion chopped
2 T butter
2 T flour
thyme to taste (about 1 teaspoon for me)
Sharp Cheddar Cheese, 4 slices
Swiss Cheese, 3 slices
salt and pepper
1/4 c cream

I started with the onions and sauteed them in the butter. I added the peppers then garlic. The flour went in next and I cooked it for a few minutes then added the broth. Once it started to thicken I added the corn and thyme (about a teaspoon) and the cheeses. I didn't add a lot of cheese. I had slices that were getting along so 4 slices of sharp cheddar and 3 slices of Swiss but you can adjust this or leave it out. A quarter cup of cream at the finish topped it off. It had a nice light yellow color and a deep corn taste. If you need it thicker I am a big fan of Wondra but you could also make a buerre blanc (2 T butter mixed with 2 T flour).