Seafood Corn Chowder

This recipe, courtesy of Woman's Day,  won rave reviews from everyone as a great early Fall recipe.  It carries over some common summer ingredients like corn and seafood, but also incorporates newly-in-season potatoes and is the perfect warm dish for that transition to chilly (and in our case, rainy) evenings. I know I've said before that, for a toddler, my son is a real foodie.  But I do have to mention that he loved this and had it for dinner three times in one week. 

Recipe Ingredients

• 4 oz sliced bacon
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• Kosher salt and pepper
• 1/2 lb Yukon gold potatoes (peeled, if desired), cut into 1/2-in. pieces
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
• 1 cup corn kernels (cut fresh from 1 ear or frozen and thawed)
• 3/4 lb medium peeled and deveined shrimp
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• Crusty bread, for serving

1. Cook the bacon in a large saucepan over medium heat until crisp, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel–lined plate; break into pieces when cool.
2. Wipe out the saucepan and heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.
3. Add the potatoes, wine and 2 1/2 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the potatoes are just tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Stir in the celery, corn, shrimp and cream, and simmer until the shrimp are opaque throughout, 3 to 4 minutes. Top with the bacon and parsley. Serve with the bread, if desired.

*We followed this basic recipe with a few amendments...

1) we microwaved the pre-cooked bacon which was faster

2) instead of just shrimp, we took the suggestion of using half shrimp, half scallops.

3) the end result is a little bit bland and I think meant to be individually seasoned.  For my son's I added more ground pepper and a little heavy cream to make it richer. 

We used Alba Vineyards Mainsail White in the soup and drank the rest with dinner.  (For more info check out the Local Haunts section under NJ Vineyards).