Food You Can Eat: Cheesy Roasted Corn Chowder

This recipe was intended for those who can grill corn outside – having no grill, I adapted it to the broiler.

Boil/steam 6 ears of corn and cut the corn off the cobs.

Mix the cooked corn, a bag of frozen sweet corn, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and to taste, salt, pepper, and red pepper. Smooth it out in a layer on a baking sheet and broil it until the corn begins to toast/brown but not char. Remove from the broiler. If you like a browner color, stir it a bit and pop it back under the broiler or a minute or so.

Divide the corn into thirds. Combine the first third with 2 cups of water and blend until silky smooth.

Cover the bottom of a large pot with olive oil a sauté 3 ribs of celery, chopped, 4 diced large potatoes, and a good-sized chopped onion, until the onion and celery are cooked through. Add a cup of water, the silky-smooth corn purée, bring to a boil, and reduce heat to simmer, about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, purée the next third of the roasted/broiled corn with 12 ounces of heavy cream or light cream or half &half or whole milk, whatever. You want this to be a courser mix, maybe only 30 seconds in a blender.

Add the course purée, 1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, and the final third of the corn into the soup pot. Season to taste (I go a little heavy on the pepper). Continue to simmer for a bit until warm and fragrant. This is one of those soups that is even better the second time around.

Serve topped with chopped avocado, crumbled bacon, some diced jalapenos, some tomato salsa, or just parsley for pretty.