Spicy summer corn chowder

Over the past few weeks I have been experimenting with a number of different Southwestern and Tex-Mex style dishes. So far I have managed to made a spicy tomato soup, honey-lime grilled chicken, and fresh guacamole and salsa-- all of which have been superb. Wanting to use up the rest of the sweet summer corn I had in the kitchen, I decided to try to replicate Panera's summer corn chowder, which went a little like this:

I started out with a green bell pepper, a small yellow onion, and half of a pablano pepper and diced them up. After sauteing the veggies in a little butter, I added minced garlic and a small Italian red pepper (I have been growing these little guys in my garden-- aren't they adorable?). Once I started to smell the garlic, I added some flour to coat the peppers, etc. and cooked it until it was a light brown color. After adding about six cups of chicken stock, I brought it up to a simmer and then threw in two medium Yukon Gold potatoes I had diced. Ten minutes of rapid boiling and voila-- cooked potatoes! I then added the corn, some chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper and milk (sorry, there aren't any measurements for these ingredients-- I never measure anything when I cook). And there you go, spicy summer corn chowder!


This recipe made about six servings. Not sure what I am going to make tomorrow, but I hope it will be just as delicious!