Spicy Corn and Sweet Potato Chowder

A creamy soup of corn and sweet potatoes cooked in corn stock and spiced up with chorizo. A wonderful way to enjoy the bounty of late summer vegetables.

For other recipes using corn, please see my Recipes Using Corn Collection. For other recipes using sweet potatoes, please see my Sweet Potato Recipes Collection. These collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, or the bounty of the garden.

One of my current failings with raising kids is my lack of follow through. [There's a corn cob connection here, but I'll meander first. Skip ahead to the recipe if you're squeamish.] I've got the "give your children chores" part down, I'm not always thorough on the follow up to see that the chore has been completed. Some chores are easy to follow through on--taking out trash, putting away clean laundry, clearing the table, walking the dogs.

My kids are in charge of emptying the compost bucket into one of the compost bins outside. Because an empty bucket comes back into the kitchen, I assumed the task has been satisfactorily completed.

Then I took Robert Barker on his morning walk and noticed what appeared to be chewed up corn cobs. Guess what? Corn cobs don't get digested, either. [That's the squeamish part, I'm deliberately being vague.]

Still, I didn't put it all together until my girl told her brother "just don't throw the compost, put it in the bin!" Aha! Apparently the raspberry canes had grown so much that he stopped bothering to lift them out of the way like she did. I sent him out with trimmers and now the path is clear and the compost is going into the bin.

Follow through--something I need to work on.

Note: This recipe calls for corn stock, a terrific way to use corn cobs if, like me, you've been cutting the kernels off of them not gnawing the kernels off. Lydia the Soup Chick® who blogs at The Perfect Pantry is my resource for all things soup, and I used her recipe. You can find it here. If you don't have the time or desire to make corn stock, substitute vegetable or chicken stock. Since all stocks are different, please taste the chowder before serving and see if you'd prefer salt or pepper added to it.

Spicy Corn and Sweet Potato Chowder 

½ Tablespoon butter

2 links chorizo sausage

1 cup chopped onions

2 large ears of corn (about 2 cups cut from the cob)

2 medium sweet potatoes (about 2 cups peeled and cubed)

6 cups corn broth (see Note above) or vegetable or chicken stock

1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk

salt and pepper to serve at the table

In a pretty purple pot (Amazon affiliate link to mine) or other large heavy bottomed vessel (at least 3 quarts so you've got room to maneuver) over medium heat, brown chorizo links in butter for about 5 to 8 minutes. Remove sausage from pot. Sauté onion in chorizo fat for 5 minutes as you prep the sweet potatoes, then add the cubed potatoes to the pot. Stir to coat with fat, then sauté another 5 minutes as you cut the corn off the cob [saving the cobs in a bag in the freezer for future corn stock!]. Add the corn to the pot, stir to coat with fat, and cook another 5 to 10 minutes until veggies have a bit of browned edges caramelizing. Pour corn stock into pot and scrap the bottom of the pot to loosen the browned bits of goodness. Chop chorizo into bite-sized pieces and add to pot. Bring soup to a gentle boil, reduce heat and simmer for at least 30 minutes an up to an hour until the veggies are tender. It's OK if this simmers longer because you were ready to fix dinner long before the rest of the crowd was home to eat it--a bit of reduction in the liquid just intensifies the flavor. Taste the soup at this point and see if you'd prefer salt or pepper. Remove from heat, stir in the can of evaporated milk, and serve.