Southwestern Potato, Crab And Corn Chowder... The Perfect Cold Weather Comfort Food

This year West Texas has been experiencing the coldest weather in more than 20 years, for the longest period of time. Therefore, all I seem to want to do is make soups, stews, and chowders; then curl up by the fire with a good read or a new movie. I'm afraid Mr. Snoots is growing tired of this, being the West Texas born and raised guy that he is. Unfortunately, he's just going to have to bear with me until the weather turns warm once again. Having grown up in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, this is just the way I roll. I happen to know that you need something to eat that will stick to your ribs when the temperatures plunge into the teens, with even colder wind chill factors.

Now, during the summer I usually wait for an excellent deal on corn-on-the-cob, like when they are 10 ears for $2.00. Then, I get them home and roast all of them over a fire with hickory smoke, scrape the kernels of corn from the cob, divide it evenly among freezer bags, label the bags, and toss them in the freezer. The reason I do this is so I can have it available for meals such as this, without all the fuss of having to do the corn first. And really, who wants to grill outdoors when it's below freezing? Not I.

So, all I have to do is make the potato soup, which I always seem to make way too much of. We usually have the Potato Soup the first couple of nights, then I totally change it up by adding the corn and the crab, plus a bit of Gruyere cheese and Parmesan cheese. It totally changes the taste and texture of the soup, by becoming a chowder. It's so filling that I usually find it necessary to eat several cups of it, in intervals. I do hope you enjoy it as much as we do.


Potato, Corn And Crab Chowder:


Ingredients:


4 cups of chicken broth

3 cups of potatoes, diced

1-1/2 cups of onions, diced

1 cup of celery, diced

1 bay leaf

1 cup of baby carrots, diced

5 to 10 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 cups of milk (or Half & Half if you're young)

5 Tablespoons of butter

1-1/2 teaspoons of salt

1 teaspoon of pepper, freshly ground

1 Tablespoon of fresh parsley, finely chopped

1 - 7 ounce can of diced green chiles

1 package of crab chunks (For Heaven's sake please don't use the fake crab.)

1 package of previously frozen roasted corn


Directions:

1. In a large dutch oven or stock pot, melt the butter and add the onions, celery, and potatoes. Cook over medium heat for a couple of minutes.

2. Add the chicken broth and the bay leaf, making sure that the broth covers the vegetables by about an inch to an inch and a half. Place the lid on the pan and allow the veggies to simmer for about 30 minutes.

3. Now you can add the carrots, salt, and pepper. Add more broth if necessary and continue to simmer for another 30 minutes. Remove bay leaf.

4. When the vegetables are thoroughly cooked, remove the pan from the fire and use a potato masher to crush at least half of the veggies.

5. Return the pan to the fire and bring almost to the point of boiling. Add the milk (or Half & Half).

6. Now you can add the corn, the chopped green chiles, and the crab. Simmer over medium-low heat for an additional 30 minutes. Stir frequently to prevent the soup from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

7. Before the last 15 minutes of simmering, add the chopped fresh parsley. Serve, when time is up, with fresh French or sourdough bread.

You can thank me later...

MiMi's Medicinal Home Made Chicken Soup... The Cure For Snowy Weather

When the weather turns cold the first thing I do is start making soup. Strangely enough, I always seem to have all the ingredients I need on hand. Actually, I've had the ingredients for a week as they were leftover ingredients I didn't need for Thanksgiving. I shopped at Sam's Wholesale Club so, as usual, I bought too much but, I'd rather have too much than not enough of something. So, I'm trying to finish off the onions, garlic, parsley, celery and carrots. All the perfect ingredients to go in my home made chicken soup. I've had a nice plump little chicken in the freezer just begging to be pulled out.


So, without further adieu, here's my recipe, which I learned from my grandmother (MiMi), who was of German descent. I wish I'd had more time to learn from her before she was gone, because she was one of the most wonderful cooks ever.


MiMi's Medicinal Homemade Chicken Soup:


Ingredients:



For The Broth:

3 to 4 stalks of celery (with the leaves), coarsely chopped

1 large yellow onion, peeled and quartered

4 to 5 spring (green) onions

8-10 cloves of garlic, halved

1 whole bay leaf

1 teaspoon of whole black peppercorns

2 teaspoons of salt

1 whole chicken

8 cups of water


Directions:

1. In the morning, start your broth by filling the stock pot with water and adding all of the ingredients for the broth.

2. Bring the pot almost to a boil, but not quite. It needs to simmer very slowly all day and not boil. 3 to 4 hours is usually enough time, but I usually let it steep for a while.

3. When the stock is ready, remove all of the ingredients, setting aside the chicken to cool and add the veggies to your compost pile or your trash.

4. At this point I use a couple of layers of cheesecloth inside a colander, to drain the broth. Rinse the stock pot and and return the broth to the pot.

5. Bone the chicken and tear into bite size pieces. Now you're ready to make the actual soup.

Chicken soup:

Ingredients:

2 to 3 stalks of celery, diced

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped

1 package of baby carrots, sliced & chopped (or shredded carrots, chopped)

1 package of fresh mushrooms, cleaned and chopped

5 to 6 cloves of garlic, pressed

1 teaspoon of olive oil

2 teaspoons of butter

8 cups of the broth you previously made (or you can use 2 cartons of organic chicken broth)

2 teaspoons of chopped parsley

1 teaspoon of kosher or sea salt

1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns, ground

1/2 of a package of egg noodles


Directions:

1. In the olive oil and butter, saute the onions, celery, carrots, mushrooms, and garlic in that order, until almost transparent.

2. Add the broth and allow the soup to simmer and cook the veggies for at least another 1-1/2 hours.

3. Add the chicken, chopped parsley, salt and pepper and allow to simmer a while longer.

4. Boil the egg noodles in another pan, drain and set aside. I've found that adding them to the soup soaks up all the liquid and then they fall apart.

5. Place noodles in bottom of bowl and pour soup over the top.

6. Serve with healthy crackers or sourdough bread. Enjoy!

7. I have to admit I forgot to add the parsley before taking the picture, so it's not nearly as attractive as it should be.

Lulu LaRue's Colorful Confetti Potato Soup... Great In Any Weather

Yes, it's going to be up around 77 degrees here today. Please don't hate me. You could live here too (if you can take the West Texas heat, that is)! So, I'm going to be headed to the golf course here in about an hour, to play a round of 18 with the girls. I'm even going to wear a pair of capris, if I can find them. (Hey, it's been a while since it's been this warm.) I mean, yesterday the high was in the 60's and I made Potato Soup. So, I'm serving Potato Soup for dinner tonight when I get home. Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

This will also be my entry in the Potato Ho Down for April, which is being hosted by Donalyn over @ Dlynz. More entries are always welcome, so if you're another potato ho and you'd like to join in the fun, then get it on. The Potato Ho Down was the brainchild of Noble Pig's Cathy and Evil Chef Mom's Krysta, where you will find the best Potato Ho recipes ever. Frankly, I'm a total amateur compared to these talented ladies.


POTATO SOUP:

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups diced potatoes

1 cup chopped onions

1 cup chopped carrots (optional)

1 cup diced celery

5 cloves of garlic

2 cups milk

3 cups organic chicken broth

3 tbsp. butter

1 tbsp. fresh parsley

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large pan, melt the butter and add the potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions and sauté them for a couple of minutes. Add garlic and cook a moment longer.

2. Add the chicken broth (adjusting amount as you need it) and simmer over medium low fire until vegetables are tender.

3. Once potatoes are cooked, I mash the potatoes rather coarsely so there are still some chunks.

4. Last of all, add the parsley and the milk, then salt and pepper to taste.