Corn Chowder & Broiled Polenta

We got a great deal on corn on the cob at the farmers market and while flipping through cookbooks this recipe for corn chowder caught my eye. "Ohhh" i thought, this will be easy. Nope. Between this and the polenta I pretty much spent my entire Sunday cooking. and it was hot, not a great time to have the broiler on.

HOWEVER, it was soooo good and soooo worth it.

The corn chowder recipe comes from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman and the polenta recipe comes from The Cooks Book.

Polenta Ingredients

• 6 Cups Water
• 1 3/4 cup Cornmeal
• 1/2 tbsp salt

Pour the water and salt into a big pot and bring to a boil.

Slowly sprinkle in the cornmeal, whisking constantly so you don't get clumps.



















Reduce heat to as low as it goes and let cook for about 40 minutes or until pulling away from the edges. I found mine only had to go for about 30 minutes.


While this is doing it's thing grease up a cookie sheet.

Once the polenta is done, pour it onto the cookie sheet and let cool for a while. While that's in the fridge lets make the chowder shall we?



















Corn Chowder Ingredients:

• 6 ears of corn
• salt and pepper
• 4 tablespoons butter or oil
• 1/2 cup scallion ( I used an onion)
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 quart milk
• 1 potato

First I decided to roast the corn. Not a necessary step and maybe if I had thought about it longer in relation to the temperature of my kitchen I might have skipped it, but I think it helped the flavor. Rub oil on the corn and stick in the oven at 450 for a bit, turning often. Once they get brown they are done.



















Once the corn is roasted get everything chopped up (onion, potato). Remove the kernels from the cob and set the kernels aside.



















In a pan with 2 cups of water throw in the kerneless cobs. Add some salt and pepper. Bring to a boil reduce heat and cover. Let cook for about 30 minutes.



















Once that is done remove the cobs and reserve the corn broth for later.

In a large stock pot melt the butter and add the onion and sugar. Let the onion soften for a minute then turn the heat down to medium and stir in the flour.



















Stir the mixture constantly for about 5 minutes.

Next add the milk and corn broth, again stirring constantly. Turn the heat up to medium high and cook until flour has dissolved and mixture has thickened. Roughly 2 minutes.






































Stir in the corn kernels and potato and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cover. Cook for about 15 minutes stirring occasionally.



















While that's finishing up lets cook up the polenta.

Cut your polenta into whatever shapes you desire and brush them with olive oil. Stick under the broiler about 5 minutes per side depending on how thick your shapes are.



















The polenta is excellent with the soup either thrown into it or used as a dipping implement.



















Enjoy :)