Spicy Corn and Crab Chowder

I like chowder.  It reminds me of the ocean.

Chowder has always been a once in blue moon dining experience for me.  I had never tried to make it myself because I've always been afraid of the fishy kitchen smell.  But, I'm getting over that because I realize that I really like seafood.  Since we moved, I've decided that the best way to work my way through my cooking magazines is to pick the few recipes that I absolutely intend to make (and forget about the ones that seem merely so-so).  Then, I make them and recycle the magazine.  This was one of the recipes that had me pause, mark as a maybe, flip back, reread the recipe, mark it again, flip back, and finally write it down on the weekly menu.

It seems like there are a lot of steps, but they move fast so it was easy to put together.  I did end up added a lot more seasoning to the bowl once it was done.  Both Ron and I really enjoyed it though.  You might think that the chile is going to cause the chowder to be too spicy, but it actually worked out rather well.  I think that the chowder would have been bland without it.

Spicy Corn and Crab Chowder

Cooking Light

Yield:  4 servings, about 1 3/4 cup

Ingredients

• 1 medium poblano chile
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 c finely chopped onion
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground red pepper
• 1 16-ounce pkg frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 1 cup half-and-half, divided
• 1 8-ounce russet potato, peeled and chopped
• 2 cups water
• 2 Tbsp AP flour
• 1 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
• 1 8-ounce container crab claw meat, shell pieces removed

Instructions

1. Preheat broiler.
2. Place poblano chile on a foil-lined baking sheet.  Broil 8 minutes on each side or until blackened.  Place pepper in a small ziplock bag; seal.  Let stand for 10 minutes.  Then, peel and chop.
3. Melt the butter in a large soup pot over medium-high heat.  Add onion and next 3 ingredients to pan; saute 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add corn; saute 2 minutes.  Remove 3/4 cup corn mixture from pan.  Combine 3/4 cup corn mixture and 3/4 cup half-and-half in a blender; process until smooth. 
4. Add potato to pan; saute 1 minute.
5. Stir in 2 cups of water; bring to a boil.
6. Cook 4 minutes or until potato is almost tender.  Reduce heat to medium.
7. Combine remaining 1/4 cup half-and-half and flour in a small bowl, stirring until smooth.
8. Add flour mixture to pan.  Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.
9. Return corn puree to pan.
10. Stir in poblano, milk, and crab; bring to a simmer.
11. Cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently.