Corn Chowder

Six large servings.

Ingredients:
* 6 strips bacon, diced (don’t skimp here, buy the thick smoked good stuff)
* 1 large yellow onion, diced
* 3 stalks celery, de-stringed and diced
* 2 carrots, peeled and diced
* 3 cloves garlic, minced
* 3 uncooked potatoes, peeled and diced
* 1 medium leek, sliced
* 3 ears of sweet corn, removed from cob (save the cobs!)
* 1 can cream style corn
* 2 cans chicken stock
* 1 500ml container heavy cream
* 1 stick butter
* 1/2 cup flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
* freshly ground black pepper, to taste
* pinch of cayenne pepper
* 2 teaspoons fresh thyme, finely chopped
* parsley, finely chopped

Directions:

1. Remove the corn kernels from the cobs, and place the cobs in a saucepan with the chicken stock. Simmer while preparing other ingredients to create “corn stock”.
2. Sauté bacon [mmmmm...bacon] until crispy and remove from pan. Dice into 1cm square chunks.
3. Sauté your mirapois of diced onion, celery, carrot and garlic in the rendered bacon fat until onions are translucent. The kitchen should start to smell very good by now.
4. Create a roux with the butter and flour, cooking for a few minutes before combining with the sautéd vegetables.
5. Remove the cooked cobs from the stock and discard. Add the corn, diced potatoes and sliced leek to the stock and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until tender.
6. Add the sautéd vegetables and roux, cream, thyme and seasonings to taste. Simmer for another 20 minutes and serve hot. Garnish with chopped parsley. [I suppose you could garnish with bacon, cheese or sour cream if you wanted to get fancy]

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