Oh ok! I was sitting there trying to figure out what it stood for...
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Well this recipe is based on The Culinary Institute of America's with a couple tweeks by me. It has little tiny cubes of soft bell pepper in it, but you could omit them if you like. Everyone loves this recipe that I make it for. You could easily use fish stock for the chicken stock and pieces of haddock/cod for a fish chowder as well.
Corn Chowder
1-T Butter
2-oz Minced Salt Pork or Bacon
3-oz Minced Yellow Onion
3-oz Minced Celery
2-oz Finely Diced Red Bell Pepper
2-oz Finely Diced Green Bell Pepper
2-oz Flour
1-qt Chicken Stock
1-lb Fresh Corn Kernels w/Milk from cobs
1-lb 1/2" Cubed Yukon Gold Potatoes
1 Bay Leaf
1/2-C Milk
1/2-C Heavy Cream
Kosher Salt - To Taste
Freshly Ground White Pepper - To Taste
Yields ~ 1.5-qts
Melt the butter and render the salt pork/bacon. Add the onion, celery, and peppers and sweat until they are translucent. Add the flour and stir to make a blonde roux.
Slowly incorporate the stock, and simmer for 30min.
Puree half the corn kernals and add to the soup with the remaining kernals, cubed potatoes, and bay leaf. Simmer until the the potatoes are very tender, then add the milk and cream and season with kosher salt and finely ground white pepper.
* Be careful when reheating it though - you don't want to boil it.
Hope your surgery goes well!
EDIT: By the way, I usually serve this with big common crackers. You could use those oyster crackers too, or even saltines in a pinch. It also goes well with a hunk of good artisan french bread. I like to serve a light side salad of mixed baby greens and some white wine. I usually drink sweeter whites like Rieslings or Gewürztraminers, but chowder is one of the very-rare occassions that I reach for a wine that has a bit less sugar. You could even make a good beer work with a chowder... I know
plenty of people up here in chowda' land that drink Miller with their "Bowl of White"... (haha).
