It's My Weakness

If my recent, earth-shattering, trick wasn't enough to really prove my worth - I'm about to blow the roof off this kitchen. Just you wait.

A short year and a half ago, I admitted that I'd never successfully hard-boiled an egg. Now I'm back with another shameful admission. Why I do this to myself (and assume you care), I have no idea. But lucky for you, on the other side of embarrassing myself, you'll get the recipe for an amazing Roasted Poblano and Corn Chowder. It's worth the wait... I promise.

You've probably noticed a few things about the way I run things around here... if I can't cook an entire recipe pretty much from scratch, the chances of it being made are slim to none. And using (what I consider) to be weird ingredients? Not gonna happen. So you can imagine my hesitation when I saw that this recipe included poblano peppers (who live somewhere close to the top of my list of unusual ingredients - embarrassing fact #2893) and not only did you have to find them, but then you had to roast them, yourself (to this day, the only roasted peppers included in any recipes I'd made were the bottled version - embarrassing fact #4589).

You can't make stuff like this up. It's true... this pot of lightly creamy but packed full of hearty vegetables chowder represents my first foray into roasting my own peppers... whether of the bell or poblano variety (and so goes my continued loss of credibility as someone who rambles about food). With this admission comes a whole host of excuses that I will spare you from - but just know I've got 'em. Thinking it was necessary to have a gas stovetop may or may not have been one of them.

Luckily, though, you get to enjoy the fruits of my er... test (can't call that labor, roasting the peppers was so darn easy!). Although not entirely since sadly you won't be able to dig into this jam-packed full bowl of chowder.

But before you're off a-roastin' and chopping, please indulge me... what's your deepest, darkest kitchen secret? Do you always burn your microwave popcorn? Is the taste of PB&J on fluffy (store-bought!) white bread still your absolutely favorite meal in the world? Or perhaps, some of your most oft-requested recipes are crafted from the humblest of boxed mixes?

Roasted Poblano Corn Chowder
brought to you by Kim

2 TBSP butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, diced
1/3 C flour
4 c chicken stock
1 carrot, diced
2 lbs potatoes, scrubbed and diced
1 lb frozen corn
1 red bell pepper
3 poblano peppers
1 c milk
½ cup cream
½ lb frozen spinach (whole leaf)
salt
pepper
cayenne, to taste

Roast peppers (poblanos and red bell): lightly coat a small baking pan with cooking spray and place your whole, washed peppers under the broiler. Monitor and turn until all side of the peppers are browned; quickly move to an airtight container (or paper bag) to steam for about 5-10 minutes after which you will gently rub off the roasted skin. Use the back of your knife to scrape away seeds and white pithy spines inside the peppers. Chop your freshly roasted peppers into a dice.

Chop garlic, onion, and celery and saute in butter until soft. Add flour to make a rue and cook for about one minute (to eliminate any flour taste).

Add stock and stir to combine. Add potatoes, peppers, frozen corn, and carrots and bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer.

Cook until all veggies are soft, then slowly add milk. Bring back to a boil, and then turn off the heat and add your spinach (can add frozen or fresh), cream, and salt, pepper, and cayenne, to taste.

Optional: top with cheese (cheddar or Monterey Jack), or avocado, or tortilla chips.