Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Vegan Corn Chowder

 

The other day my friend Greg tweeted out something about good vegan chowder being impossible. Well, I took that as a personal challenge to create something he would deem delicious. Tonight I have created what I (and Eric) believe to be a great alternative to your normal heavy on the cream corn chowder.

Vegan Corn Chowder (inspired by a recipe found in the Joy of Cooking)

  • 1 sm. onion medium to small dice
  • 2 md. red potatoes medium dice
  • 5-6 small or 4 medium ears of corn (remove the kernels, but keep the cob)
  • 1 14 oz can light coconut milk
  • 1.5 c coconut milk from the carton (like Silk, or So Delicious brand)
  • Salt and Pepper TT(to taste)
  • Corn puree (recipe follows)

Additions:

You could add some hot sauce, or chopped carrot or celery.

Directions:

In a heavy stockpot, heat a little bit of oil and sauté the onion till soft. Add in the potatoes, milk, coconut milk, and the corn husks (not the kernels) Simmer 15 minutes or until soft. Remove the husks and add in the kernels and corn puree. Simmer another 5 minutes to heat everything through. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Corn Puree

  • Half a bag of frozen corn kernels
  • 1 cup coconut milk

In a blender, combine kernels and milk, puree until paste texture.

Notes:

Do not skip salting the chowder. If you don’t add salt, it will be much to sweet. Just add some, then try it. Add a little more…see where you like your salt level. The more salt, the less sweet it will be. Also, the corn puree is key in this recipe because it really helps thicken up the soup. I’m sure you could simmer the soup down until it thickens up, but I really like the addition of the puree for even more corn flavor.

I served my chowder with non-vegan cornbread and simple garden salad. Now that fall is almost here, I see this recipe coming around again and again.

Enjoy!!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Back in the kitchen

 

I started back in the kitchen last week at school. T-2 is is much different than T-1, the first kitchen segment. Much more laid back and totally different atmosphere. I know it will get busy and crazy, but I’m really enjoying it so far. We are doing breakfast week, which is pretty fun. Have you ever tried to flip eggs in a pan without break a yolk? It is tough! Not to mention you have to cook them over easy so you cant wait till their almost cooked through before you flip them.

Tomorrow we are having our live fire where we simulate an actual restaurant. Tickets will come in and by teams, we have to cook 8 different dishes ranging from pancakes to oatmeal to all different styles of eggs. I’m pretty excited for it actually. I think it will be tough but so fun!

In other news. I am ready for some fall type weather. We had a goodbye summer grill-out last night and now I am ready to bust out some boots and jeans. Instead we are having 90+ temps for this entire week. Kill me.

And finally. Eric and I camped in Bend last weekend and here is a photo from our trip.

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