Easy Corn Chowder

Phew.  July was harsh, and I have to say - I'm kinda glad its over.  You may have noticed I didn't post the entire month - and it mostly because it was too damned hot to cook.  I mean, it was too hot to even throw together a salad - it was pracitaclly too hot to even eat.  Berlin had record breaking temps for much of July - it was upwards of 98 degrees (hovering around 40 Celsius)  for what felt like, at the time, forever.  I have no air conditioning - and really neither does anyone.  Not the taxi driver, not the bus, not the store, not the doctors office.  There was no escape and I am not gonna lie, it kinda felt like hell.  So, I spent the whole month gnawing on pieces of fruit, drinking large glasses of ice water, and sitting in front of two large fans with ice packs on my face.


Normally I am not such a wimp about the heat - I grew up in Houston, Texas for crying out loud and survived two years of life in Phoenix, Arizona and four months in India with the heat generally not making me want to kill myself.  In fact, I used to kinda like the heat.  It was different this time though, cause I'm pregnant.  Which is another reason I didn't cook a damn thing all month.  Because really, with blinding nausea and an aversion to seemingly all food, all I wanted to eat was cold cereal and peaches with plain yogurt. 


However, sanity has been restored to the universe.  The beautiful Berlin summer is here - blue skies with the occasional rain and temps more around 78 -  and my pregnancy symptoms are starting to fade. So now I can actually enjoy some of the beautiful summer food I have been seeing all over the place - like Corn.  I re-entered the kitchen with a super quick and easy soup (take that heat! soup!) which I had been craving like nobody's business.  Decent fresh corn is not as readily available in Berlin as it is in the States (you can find it, but I couldn't on the day that I decided I must have this soup)...so I had to use canned.  But no matter - you should use fresh sweet corn from the cob and your soup will be all the better for it - but in the meantime know that this is a great recipe that can be made year round with canned or frozen corn as well.   Its cheap and quick and filling and makes a great late summer meal.


Simple Corn Chowder
1 small onion, minced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
2 medium stalks celery, diced
about 4 cups corn kernels - either fresh, frozen, or canned
2 1/2 cups 1% milk
2 slices bacon (or more if you really feel like it - you could do a slice per serving.  this recipe probably makes 4 to 6 servings depending on how big you make them)
1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
sea salt and fresh ground pepper

In a blend, blend half of the corn and 1 cup of the milk until smooth.  Set aside.

In the bottom of a large dutch oven, cook the bacon until crispy.  Remove and set aside.

Add the diced onion, pepper and celery.  Add a bit of salt.   Cook over medium-low heat until the onions are translucent and the veggies are all soft.   Add the rest of the corn and cook for another couple of minutes.

Add the blended corn mixture and the rest of the milk.  Slowly stir in the shredded cheese until all combined.  Taste and add salt and pepper to your taste. 

You can either serve it as is - thick and chunky or you can blend it to your preferred consistency with an immersion blender.  I blended it just a tad once it was all done, but still left it fairly chunky and thought that combined all the flavors really well (especially the celery). 

Crumble the cooked bacon over each bowl and enjoy :)