Shrimp and Corn Chowder

Luke and I spent an evening in the kitchen a few nights ago, making shrimp and corn chowder. We mostly followed a recipe from Twelve Months of Monastery Soups by Brother Victor-Antoine d'Avila-Latourrette. I'll pass the recipe along here, a nifty (and accurate) quote from the same book, and a few notes from our own experience...

Ingredients:

5 cups water
2 onions, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 small chopped green pepper
1 finely diced carrot
2 large potatoes, diced
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
1 17-ounce can creamed corn
1 cup whole-kernel corn
1 pound shelled shrimp, cooked
salt and pepper to taste
finely chopped parsley and paprika (as garnish)

1. Pour the water into a large soup pot. Add the onions, celery, pepper, carrot, potatoes, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and then simmer slowly, covered, for about 20 minutes.

2. Dilute the flour in milk and add to the soup.

3. Add the corn, cooked shrimp, and seasonings. Blend and stir the soup, cooking for a few minutes over low-medium heat. Remove the bay leaf. Serve the soup, garnishing each bowl with a sprinkle of chopped parsley and paprika. Serves six.


"In 15 intervening years I had forgotten how delicious was this shrimp and corn chowder. I have since made it with both fresh and frozen corn--and can hardly tell which is which. I have also used frozen shrimps with excellent results.... The thin white sauce that gives the chowder its special creaminess is made separately and brought together with the other ingredients in the preparation."
-Bernard Clayton, Jr., The Complete Book of Soups and Stews

Well, as is so often the case with soups, I expanded the quantities of ingredients as I went along, and ended up with a big, big batch! It started with the onions, which, like most of the ingredients, came from a trip to the Mankato Farmer's Market. I had three onions and decided to use them both. I used three stalks of celery instead of just two. I had a large--not small--green pepper. I used two small carrots which were very, very fresh. Luke cleaned the whole basket of small red potatoes. So we added another 3/4 cup of water. We kept the milk at 2 cups and used skim. Whole or 2% might have been better, but it was wonderful just the same. Creamy but not too rich. We had two ears of corn from the market which we boiled for just a few minutes and then sliced off the ear. We used the creamed corn as called for but also a can of whole corn. The shrimp was frozen and uncooked. We put it in a hot frying pan with 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled on some of Emeril's "Essence" and then let it cook for about seven or eight minutes. We skipped the bay leaf and the garnish. It was a huge batch. And it was wonderful. It was wonderful served immediately after making it. It was excellent warmed up the next two days. And we still have more.

There is something wonderful about cooking with someone. "The Luker" and I had a great time. He even helped clean up!