Buffalo Corn Chowder With Blue Cheese Butter Topped Muffins. New Music From Juan Wauters.

Q: How much does a pirate pay for corn?
A: A buccaneer.

I’m already thinking about when to make this soup again.

I love all things Buffalo…the interplay of hot sauce, blue cheese, carrots and celery.

Here a light broth packed with vegetables, some lager and a punch of heat come together for one of the best soups out there. I loved the toasted sourdough English muffins, thickly spread with blue cheese butter, that are served alongside to dip into the hot soup. Heaven.

Buffalo Corn Chowder With Blue Cheese Butter Topped Muffins

Ingredients:

1 Tbs oil
3 Tbs butter
4 Tbs softened butter
4 medium yukon gold potatoes, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
3 small ribs celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 chile pepper such as fresno or jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
6 ears corn, kernels scraped from cobs, or 4-5 cups frozen kernels
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup lager beer
1 quart chicken stock
1/4 cup sriracha or hot sauce, such as Frank’s RedHot, or more to taste (I used 1/8 cup of each)
1 cup blue cheese crumbles
4 sourdough english muffins
1 bunch green onions, sliced on an angle

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the 3 tablespoons of butter. When it foams, stir in the potatoes, bell pepper, celery, carrots, onion, chile, garlic, salt, black pepper and thyme. Partially cover the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, for 7 minutes to soften ingredients.

2. Add the corn and heat through. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute; add the beer and stir 1 more minute before adding the stock and the sriracha (or hot sauce). Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Adjust seasonings to taste. If the chowder gets too thick, thin it with some water.

3. In a small bowl, stir together the 4 tablespoons softened butter with the blue cheese crumbles. Toast the english muffins then slather with the blue cheese butter.

4. Ladle the chowder into shallow bowls, top with green onions and serve with blue cheese-buttered english muffins alongside. If you like extra heat, drizzle some more hot sauce over the soup.

Serves 4

Recipe from Every Day With Rachael Ray Magazine

This is a lovely new tune from the debut solo album from Queens-based Juan Wauters, frontman of The Beets. The album, “N.A.P. North American Poetry”, is due out in February.