Corn & Andouille Chowder

Does anybody else love, love, love the delectable combination that is creamy and spicy? Exhibit 1: Pioneer Woman’s jalapeno poppers, which disappear whenever we make them, no matter how many we make (if you happen to have a few leftover, they’re actually quite good for breakfast the next morning). Exhibit 2: Johnny Carino’s has a spicy-creamy pasta that I’ve had like three times and tried to replicate about half a dozen. Exhibit 3: this soup.

I had some andouille sausage in the fridge that I needed to use, and I was also kind of hankering for the sweet-creamy-spicy flavors of a corn chowder, so I made a mash-up of Pioneer Woman’s corn chowder and this andouille sausage corn chowder recipe from All Recipes. I have to say, I’m pretty pleased with the outcome.

As an aside, I used the rest of a rotisserie chicken for the chicken stock and the chicken in this soup. As I was making the stock (basic recipe: combine in a crockpot a chicken carcass, one onion roughly chopped, three stalks celery roughly chopped, two carrots, 2 t fresh garlic, 2 bay leaves, 1/2 t black peppercorns, 1/2 t thyme, 1/2 t sage, 1/2 t oregano, 1 T apple cider vinegar, and simmer on low for 8-24 hours – the longer the better), Tito asked what I was doing. I responded that I was making soup out of the chicken bones, and it was not only delicious, but it also had all sorts of super healthy things in it for our stomachs and our bones. To which he responded, “Wow, that’s amazing!” He has no idea how amazing it is, that we can take something that’s essentially garbage in most households and turn it into something delicious, frugal and wildly healthy.

Anyway, here’s your corn chowder recipe. Adapt as needed according to what you have on hand, and enjoy.

Corn and Andouille Chowder (serves 6ish)

2 andouille sausages, cut into small bite-sized pieces 1 large yellow onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 6 cups chicken stock 2 cups cooked chicken 1 can green chiles 3 cups corn 1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce 3 T corn meal or masa 1 c half-n-half or cream

Brown the andouille in a large, heavy pot (use some olive oil if the sausage doesn’t have enough grease). You want the pot and the sausage to both develop some brown, but not burn. Remove the sausage from the pot and add more olive oil and the onion. Saute the onion until translucent, add the garlic and cook another two minutes. Add all of the other ingredients except the half-n-half/cream and let simmer at least one hour. Add the cream just before serving.

This would be delicious with crusty bread. We had it with roasted pumpkin slices because I felt like we’d had enough bread that day.

#andouille #chicken #corn #greenchile

Menu for the week of 11/18

Well, another week, another menu. Last Thursday, our house got hit with a stomach bug, so we spent the weekend subsisting mostly on saltines, animal crackers, rice cooked in chicken broth, and chicken soup. We’re pretty well mended up by now, so here’s to a healthy week!

Monday – I just popped the ingredients into the crockpot for this Homemade Enchilada Sauce. It’s a solid, basic recipe (I puree the onions into the sauce instead of picking them out), and it makes a lot, so I’m making a half-batch right now. You could make a full batch and freeze it in quart bags, which I’ve done before. We’re going to use some burritos that I froze a few weeks ago using pork taco meat to have enchiladas. For dessert, I’m thinking of trying Gwyneth Paltrow’s Sweet Potato Muffins, since I have some baked sweet potato I need to use up. The five-spice + maple syrup thing kind of weirds me out, but I’m willing to give it a try. (update: these are in the oven right now, and the batter was delicious!)

Tuesday – We have a meeting at 4:00 on Tuesday and need to be out the door for small group by 6:15, so this will be an easy and fast meal: chicken sausages from Costco (I think I have their “southwest” flavor in my freezer right now) and roasted broccoli.

Wednesday – We have youth group, where they feed us dinner, so no plans.

Thursday – JR will be out of town hunting, so I’ll probably eat with my mom. Salmon, maybe? Given our stomach bug last week, I didn’t make what I was planning to do last week, so maybe I’ll just plan on that same menu this week.

Friday – We won’t do Happy Hour because JR is gone. Some friends are having a birthday party, so maybe I’ll just graze there. Or, I’ll move Saturday’s menu up by one day.

Saturday – Butternut squash soup. I don’t have a recipe picked out yet, but I absolutely love sage, so I tend to lean in that direction rather than the apple/ginger direction for butternut soups (although I think both are delicious). I might also make up some sausage patties out of elk burger or a mixture of elk and turkey (nothing against pork, I’m just working with what I have in my freezer) — to compliment the flavor of the soup, I’m thinking of a sage-forward version, like this one. (Have you guys ever made your own sausage? I find that breakfast sausage is super easy to make, and it’s delicious, and then you know exactly what’s in it!)

Happy cooking, friends!

Menu for the Week of 11/11

I’ve been contemplating sharing my weekly menu with the Internet world (all 15 of you who read my blog, anyway). I love food. I love cooking, I love thinking about different flavor combinations, I love shopping for food, and I love knowing that I am providing my family and friends with generally nutritious, flavorful meals.

However, I know that this is not the case for all of my friends, and so I wondered if people would find it helpful if I published my weekly meal plan on an occasional basis (I don’t know that I could promise to do it every week, but you could always go back into the archives to get inspiration from the past). Would anyone find this helpful? Let me know!

In the meantime, here’s what I’m planning to have my family eat this week:

Monday – elk steak kebabs (elk steak because that’s what I have in my freezer and it’s the ultimate organic, free range meat!, cut into cubes and marinated and then grilled on skewers), turmeric-garlic roasted sweet potato cubes and broccoli (I seriously can’t get enough of veggies roasted this way — I think I ate carrots like this three times last week!). I might also do some marinated tomatoes because I bought some fresh tomatoes and Costco the other day at Tito’s request.

Tuesday – crockpot chicken tacos. I am providing “take out” meals to a couple of families who are sick or have new babies, so I’m going to throw a bunch of chicken breasts in the crockpot with a few cans of Rotel and some taco seasoning (I will probably try to find a more precise recipe but that’s the general idea right now). I was going to make crockpot refried beans to go with them, but since my crockpot will be occupied, I’m just going to throw in some black beans with the chicken. We’ll eat these with corn tortillas, shredded cheese, sour cream, green onion slices, cilantro, and Pioneer Woman’s Restaurant Style salsa. I’m thinking of doing Pumpkin Pie Dip with apple slices for dessert, but I’d need to buy more apples first.

Wednesday – no meals; we eat dinner every Wednesday at church youth group (I think they are serving us gourmet grilled cheese, tomato soup and salad)

Thursday –salmon (seasoned simply with butter and lemon pepper), Thomas Keller’s baby leeks (this will be a new recipe to me), and probably some quinoa or rice pilaf as a side. I really like this quinoa recipe, and I haven’t made it for a while, so this might be it.

Friday – We normally have Happy Hour on Friday nights, when I do chips and salsa and a big pot of soup. I’m not sure if we’re going to do Happy Hour this week, but I’ll probably still do some soup. My mom brought me a recipe from an airline magazine for a beer-chipotle chili, so maybe I’ll give that a try. We also haven’t had split pea soup in a long time, and the weather is right for it, but I don’t know if Lili would eat it because she usually rejects mushy stuff. But, I might just have to give it a try sometime to see if her palate is changing. Either way, I’m not going to make another trip to the store, so I’ll just have to go with whatever I happen to have in my freezer/pantry for this meal.

So there you have it, my meal plan for the week!