My mom made this chowder. I remember coming in from playing outside in the fall and being excited when I knew we were having Tomato Corn Chowder for dinner. I loved it as a little girl and I love it now! Each time I make it, the soup disappears. I usually double the recipe. If you double it, use a large stock pot, there is a lot. The recipe pops into my head when fresh corn is available at the neighborhood vegetable stands. I was in Costco last week and saw fresh corn, which helps you understand why I am posting this recipe. Also, my son-in-law ate some and wanted the recipe.
Tomato Corn Chowder
(The recipe below is doubled. If you are cooking for 1-4 people, cut everything in half.)
1/2 C. Butter
1 Onion, chopped
1/2 C. Flour
8 C. Chicken Broth
4 Cans of Diced Tomatoes
8 Corn Cobs (You can used canned corn)
2 C. Heavy Cream
4 Eggs
Melt the butter and add the chopped onion. I used my Cuisinart to make the onion chunks smaller for my son who does not like onions. Once the onion is cooked, 3-4 minutes, add the flour. Stir constantly as the flour cooks. When I first started making white sauce (bechamel to anyone who has watched Julie & Julia or The Hundred Foot Journey), I did not know you needed to cook the flour. I would add the flour to the butter and then immediately add the liquid. The sauce never tasted right. Then I learned you need to cook the flour before adding the liquid. I try and stir it as long as I can until the flour gets little pieces of brown attached to it, 3-4 minutes. I think it is hard to stir as it is heavy and sticks to everything.
Once the flour is cooked, add the chicken broth. Stir well either with a spoon or a wire whisk until all the flour clumps are completed mixed in. Add the canned tomatoes and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat and let it simmer while you are cutting the corn off the cob. You can use canned corn, if you prefer not to bother with fresh corn. The original recipe called for a can of creamed corn. I did not like it. Plus, there is nothing like fresh corn to me.
Once it has simmered for about 10 minutes (fresh corn really does not need very long to cook), whisk your eggs together. Put them in a bowl that will handle 4 cups of liquid. The next part of the recipe is a little tricky. Those of you who have made scrambled eggs when adding them to hot liquids know what I am talking about.
Mix the whisked eggs to the whipping cream. Mix well. Add a little bit of hot soup mixture to the cream and egg mixture. Stir, stir, stir. Add a little more. Stir, stir, stir. Add a little more, stir, stir, stir. Keep adding soup mixture until the whipping cream mixture looks the same color as the soup. Once this happens, you can gradually add the whipping cream mixture to the hot soup in the pot.
I stirred the soup for about 10 minutes before everything was well mixed. I did have a few strands of scrambled eggs, sooooo it even happens to the best of us!
I topped the soup off with a little fresh corn and chopped tomatoes for the photo shoot, but I never serve it this way. I am always happy to get a bowl and dig right in.
For those of you who are a little adventurous, add some Frito chips. My husband thinks it is the bombdotcom!