Have you ever made those fun little tinfoil-packet meals when you were camping? Hamburger, potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, a little butter… all wrapped up in a neat little foil pouch and cooked on the fire until steaming?
Well, this soup is the wintery at-home comfort food version of that meal!
I have been making too many soups lately. Too many. Everyone but me is tired of them. But I just can’t seem to stop.
Fall = soup, in my book. Everything about this cool, crisp air, the falling leaves, the early darkness, makes me want to smell a simmering pot of soup on my stove and savor its warmth all evening.
So, I keep trying to at least come up with new ideas to keep my family happy.
I created this soup specifically for my husband. The campfire packet meals are his thing and I couldn’t help but think how great all those flavors would taste in a thick creamy corn chowder.
I’ll tell ya… this soup is right near the top of my list of favorite soups now. I will definitely be making it again!
(By the way, this makes a big batch of chowder. I would say it’s enough to feed 6-8 people, or more. Feel free to cut the batch in half if you’re only feeding 2-4 people!)
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 2 tablespoons butter or bacon grease
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 3-4 large baking potatoes, chopped
- 4 large carrots, chopped
- 4 large celery stalks, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons Johnny's all-purpose salt seasoning
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 (15oz) can cream-style corn
- 2 cups shredded cheese (cheddar/jack blend is great!)
- 1-3 fresh jalapeños, minced (to taste... add little by little until you find the spice you want!)
- 1 bunch green onions, chopped
Directions
In a large dutch-oven, brown the ground beef over medium-high heat, seasoning it with 1 teaspoon of the seasoning salt. Remove the beef, and drain most of the grease, if there is any, out of the pan. (Don't clean the pan though, you want all the good little bits on the bottom!).
Add a couple tablespoons of butter (or better yet, bacon grease if you have it!) to the still hot pot, and dump in the onions. Sauté for a few minutes, until clear, stirring well and scraping all the little bits off the bottom of the pot. Dump in the potatoes, carrots and celery and the remaining teaspoon of seasoning salt and continue to sauté until soft or a little browned (or if you are in a hurry, just skip this part!).
Stir in the garlic and sauté until nice and fragrant. Dump back in the browned beef, and stir in the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for at least an hour, until the potatoes are very tender.
(At this point, I like to get out my potato masher and smash up a few of the potatoes in the pot. Not all of them, but just a bit. Totally optional... do it if you want!).
Stir in the cream, corn, cheese, jalapeños & green onions and heat until melted and warm. Season to taste with salt & pepper & serve!
http://sweetannas.com/2012/11/cowboy-potato-corn-chowder.htmla Sweet Anna’s original recipe
