Vegetarian Corn Chowder with a Bite

There used to be a to-go place near where I grew up that had really delicious corn chowder. It was smokey and creamy and I'm sure full of fat and canned ingredients. But I was young and definitely not concerned with what exactly made it so good. Having grown up not eating meat and other fatty things, it didn't occur to me that the two key ingredients were bacon and cream. Of course it was delicious!

I didn't eat bacon in any other form when I was growing up -- as far as I was consciously concerned, I did not eat red or pig meat. I only ate it in this soup! Then, when I started my first cooking job, I was faced with a major challenge: eating things I had grown up thinking I didn't eat. One of the first challenges was Bacon. I succeeded with flying colors and loved it even outside of the beloved corn chowder! I started eating all sorts of things I always thought I wouldn't. My food horizons expanded for a few years, and then, they started retracting, which was totally fine with me. Now, unless I'm very hung over, eating bacon kind of makes me feel like a pig. So I try not to eat it if I can avoid it.

This morning when I woke up and thought I would go to the Union Square Greenmarket, the first items on the list were New Potatoes. Creamy, delicate, naturally flaky-skinned potatoes. What else (aside from roast chicken) goes well with freshly dug potatoes? Corn. Farmers Market Corn. All day I thought about making this version of corn chowder. It's vegetarian and uses half-and-half instead of cream, and poblano peppers instead of... I don't know what they're instead of but they're good and add the perfect amount of heat when seeded. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did tonight!

Vegetarian Corn Chowder
1 T olive oil
2 or 3 strips "Fakin Bacon" (smoked tempeh), diced small
1 large onion, diced (not too small)
1 small (or half of a large) poblano pepper, chopped
1 T butter
2/3 lb potatoes, chopped
6 c veggie stock
2 corn cobs and the corn from the cobs
1/2 c half-and-half
salt and pepper to taste

In a large saucepan, saute tempeh and onion in olive oil. When onions are translucent, add peppers and butter. Add potatoes, stock, and stripped corn cobs. Bring to boil and simmer until potatoes are cooked through, about 15 min. Add corn and cook until heated, about 5 more minutes. Stir in half and half, salt, and pepper, and serve.


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