Vegetable Chowder

Forgive the photo; apparently photographing soup is more difficult than I thought. I went to the grocery store last week hungry, again. Fortunately, I have thus far been able to restrict my impulse buys to the produce section, but when the bag of mini sweet peppers was on sale for $2.99, really, how could I resist? My grandmother passed away this weekend, and as with all of the stress of my life, I frequently find refuge in the kitchen, which explains why I now have this oh so lovely soup to share with you. It tastes fresh, light, and summery, and used up about half of the bag of said sweet peppers. I froze two full quart-size baggies, and poured the rest into leftover containers. I suspect, although I did not measure, that the soup makes about 1 1/2 gallons.

Full disclosure: This recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart's Vegetable Chowder. Her recipe called for 5 cups of water; I found that the soup was far too watery and ended up adding some flour to thicken it and boiled off some of the water. I believe starting with 3 1/2 c. water would solve the problem in the first place.

Vegetable Chowder

3 Tbs. butter
2 large sweet onions, diced
2 medium bell peppers (~ 2 cups diced)*
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
3 c. 2% milk
3 1/2 c. water
4 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced into about 1 inch chunks
2 ~15 oz. cans of sweet corn, drained
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1 ~12 oz. package of frozen, chopped broccoli

*I used about 2 cups diced of the mini sweet peppers I had.

In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, add the diced onion, bell peppers, and thyme. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions are starting to become translucent and the peppers have softened, about 10 minutes.

Add the milk, potatoes, and water to the soup. Bring to a boil and simmer until the potatoes are fork tender. On my 1980s electric stove, this means I have to cover the pot to bring it to a boil, and it takes about 10 minutes of simmering after that. I would recommend not covering the soup if you want it to be thicker though. Once the potatoes are tender, add in the corn, salt, and pepper, and cook until the corn is warmed through, about 3-4 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, scoop about 4 cups of the vegetables into a blender, along with about 1 cup of the broth. Using the blender, puree the solids until smooth, and then return them to the stockpot. Add the frozen broccoli and return the pot to a simmer, cooking for another 3-4 minutes until the broccoli is done. While I did not feel the need to add cheese to this, I would imagine it would taste very good served with some cheddar or parmesan sprinkled on top.