On A Cold Winter’s Night….

There is nothing quite as comforting as a bowl of creamy chowder.  My chowder of choice on this day was sweet corn chowder with seared scallops. It was all I could do not to add bacon…. I mean, there it was . . . thick cut, hickory smoked bacon, sitting right there in my fridge…. but alas… No red meat today!  I repeat… NO RED MEAT TODAY!

Here’s what I did…

For the Corn Chowder:

4 cups of corn

1/3 cup of cream cheese

1 cup of milk

1 cup of heavy cream

1 cup of water (look… we have to have some semblance of healthy here)

1 cup of chicken stock

1 medium onion diced

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1-2 tablespoons sugar (depends on how sweet your corn is)

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 Tablespoon finely chopped fresh or 1/2 Teaspoon dried basil whatever you have on hand… it is winter afterall.

 

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and add the onions.  Cook them until they are soft, but not browned (if you brown them a little – it’s no big deal).

Then, add the flour, stir and cook for at least two minutes to get rid of the raw flour taste. Next, add the chicken stock and whisk.  Add a little salt and pepper to layer in the flavors.

Now stir in the milk and gently add the remaining ingredients, stirring as you go.

Simmer for 15 minutes. Season with a little more salt and pepper to taste.

For the Scallops….

8-9 Large Sea Scallops (not bay scallops, they are too small – more on that here)

Salt

Pepper

1 tablespoon each Olive oil & Butter for searing.

Heat a large skillet on high heat.  Dry the scallops.

Drying the the scallops thoroughly ensures that you’ll get good color on them.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Add the oil and butter to the skillet.  Gently add the dried and seasoned scallops.  Cook for 3 minutes per side or until they pull away freely from the skillet.

To pull the dish together, add the corn chowder to your favorite bowl and top with four of the scallops.

The scallops and corn complement each other so well, you’ll wonder why you hadn’t thought of this before now.

Not into scallops?  My daughter’s allergic… she added shrimp.

I however can’t get enough of scallops right now….And guess what…?  I forgot all about that bacon.

Enjoy!