Chicken Corn Chowder

Well continuing on the cooking something for a cold winters day, what could be heartier than a nice bowl of chowder? I'm not a big football fan, but yesterday the bear's was in the playoff's..had to watch, along with watch Top Chef Fabio Viviani's excellent web stream on making his killer gnocchi. I would highly recommend the Chef's website for recipes, and his blog with recaps about Top Chef. As a result,  I wanted to make something simple, filled with flavor and easy to make.

You could easily put clams, or just about any other seafood in here instead of the Chicken I use, to make a very hearty seafood chowder. I prefer chicken thighs for this dish, they are inexpensive, tender, and infuse this dish with a ton of flavor.

I do not use alot of salt in this dish, because I prefer the natural sweetness of the corn, cream and unsalted butter to really come through. I have tried this with the addition of red and orange bell peepers to simply enhance color, but be careful! Too many bell peepers and it becomes the overwhelming flavor.

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into small pieces.
• 1/4 cup good olive oil
• 1 large sweet onion, chopped
• 4-5 oz of Baby Bella mushrooms, sliced and cleaned 
• 8 tablespoons (1stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 6 cups chicken stock or broth
• 4  medium-diced Yukon Gold potatoes unpeeled
• 5 cups corn kernels, fresh or frozen
• 1 cup of light cream

Directions

In a large stockpot over medium-high heat, cook the chicken and olive oil until the chicken is slightly browned, about 4-5-minutes. Reduce the heat to medium, add the onions and butter to the fat, and cook for 8-10 minutes, until the onions are translucent. Add the corn, and stir. If using fresh corn, cut the kernels off the cob and blanch them for 3 minutes in boiling salted water, drain. (If using frozen corn you can skip this step.)

Stir in the flour, salt, pepper and cook for 3 minutes. Add the chicken stock, mushrooms and potatoes, bring to a boil, and reduce hear, and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are almost tender. Add the light cream to the dish, and continue cooking another 10 minutes Serve hot with a nice hearty bread. (I served mine with a roasted garlic bread.)

Make sure you check out Chef Fabio's website!! http://fabioviviani.com/