Crab and corn chowder

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This flavorful soup is creamy, filling yet not too heavy and packed with tasty crab and vegetables.

Prep Time20

Cook Time30

Total Time50

Course: Appetizer/Starter, Lunch or main

Cuisine: American

Servings: (approx)

Calories: 340kcal

Author: Caroline

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Ingredients

For stock (optional but recommended)

2 cobs corn the inner cob after cutting off kernels, see below
3 cups vegetable stock or chicken stock
1 bay leaf

For rest of chowder

1 ½ cups corn ideally fresh, cut from cob and inner cob used above
1 onion small-medium, or ½ large
½ lb potatoes
¾ cup carrot ¾ cup is approximately 1 medium carrot
½ cup celery ½ cup is approximately 1 rib of celery
2 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
8 oz crab meat suggest mix of claw and white meat
½ cup heavy cream double cream

Instructions

To infuse stock (optional but recommended)

Remove the corn from the cobs and set the kernels aside for the main chowder.
To infuse the stock, place the inner cobs in a pot and add the stock and bay leaf. Cover, warm over a medium heat and bring to a simmer Reduce the heat slightly and let the mixture simmer for around 10 minutes, preparing the rest as it simmers. Once the stock has infused, remove cobs and bay leaf.

For main chowder

If you are not using fresh corn, you can skip infusing the stock as above but I recommend warming it before adding in stage below.
As stock is infusing/warming, peel and dice the onion, potatoes and carrot and cut the celery in similar-sized pieces. All should be relatively small - I suggest making the carrot, celery and onion similar size to the corn kernels, and the potato slightly bigger to allow for slightly different cooking times.
Once all are prepared, melt the butter in a medium pot over medium heat and add the onion. Cook until the onion is starting to go translucent, around 3 - 5 minutes, but without letting them burn. Add the carrot, potato and celery and cook a few more minutes.
Add the flour and stir to coat the vegetables and absorb some of the excess butter.
Add the stock, cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat and cook for around 5 - 10 minutes, depending on size of vegetable pieces, until the potato and carrot are tender to a knifepoint (but not overly soft).
Add the corn and crab meat, mix through and cook a minute or two more. Add the cream, warm through a minute but do not let it boil then check seasoning before serving.

Notes

I suggest using fresh corn so that you have the cobs in order to infuse the stock with a bit more corn flavor. However, you can also use frozen corn instead, in which case simply warm the stock and add the corn as in main chowder steps.

You can add a little more or less cream, as you prefer, to taste. This is not a particularly thickened chowder, but this fits with the slightly lighter flavors and crab texture. If you prefer it slightly thicker texture, you can make a flour slurry with water and add this a little at a time at the end, mix and see if the texture is as you prefer.

Nutrition

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