Southwestern Corn Chowder

When we were in Sante Fe, New Mexico, we had a very tasty grilled corn and chipotle soup. We asked the restaurant for the recipe and they were nice enough to print it out and give it to us. Since corn is in season right now, we decided to recreate this recipe, but we changed it up to suit our tastes. We really liked the way that our version turned out, it had just the right amount of spice. One of the nice things about a recipe like this is that you can control the amount of heat that you add so that it can be more or less spicy depending upon your taste. Also, the combination of the fresh corn and frozen corn makes for a mix of crunchy and soft that makes the texture of the soup very pleasurable. We served ours with a nice toasted baguette bread, but a fried tortilla like the restaurant used would also be good. We also garnished ours with a couple of slices of jalapeno that had been deseeded, but clearly it isn’t necessary. This recipe serves two, but it could easily be adjusted to serve more. We hope that you enjoy it!

Cooking the Corn and Red Onion

INGREDIENTS

  • 5 Ears of Fresh Corn
  • 8 oz of Frozen Corn
  • 1/3 can of Chipotle Peppers with Sauce – finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup Red Onion – chopped
  • 3 cups Heavy Cream
  • 1/2 tsp White Pepper
  • 1/4 tsp Cumin
  • 1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
  • 2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
  • 1 tsp Butter
  • Salt to Taste – generous amount
  • Black Pepper to Taste
Stirring in the Chipotle Peppers
Grilled Corn and Chipotle Soup

INSTRUCTIONS

Remove the corn kernels from the husks of fresh corn and sauté them in a cast-iron skillet heated over medium-high heat with the oil and butter. If you prefer, you could grill the corn whole on a grill and then remove the kernels, but we chose to cook them in the skillet. Salt and pepper the corn and cook for about 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently, and then add the red onion to the corn. Cook for another 5 minutes and then remove from heat. In a medium sauce pan, add the cream, corn and onions, frozen corn, white pepper, cumin, garlic, and salt. Add about a third of the chipotle peppers with sauce and start heating the soup over medium heat. You want to just bring the soup to a slight simmer and avoid bringing to a full boil. Taste the soup and continue to slowly add chipotle peppers with sauce until it is as spicy as you would like.

Corn in the Cast-Iron Skillet
Building the Soup
Our Finished Soup

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