Cheat Chowder...Or Roasted Sweet Potato Soup!

Crab Corn Chowder!

Let me start by saying I don't like cream based soups. So bisque on the menu is something you won't find me ordering. Okay, that is out of the way, so let me tell you about a really flavorful white chowder that came as a surprise to me. And it started last winter with a visit to the Philadelphia Home Show.

Among the siding, window and pool vendors, was a green trailer offering Bear Creek soup samples. Cold outside, and actually not that warm inside, I decided to try the potato soup version. It was really good, creamy but not super thick. I picked up a bag out of the barrel to see the directions and found the reason why...water. It did not need cream, half and half, or even milk! The great flavor and the absence of cream, opened, what I was now calling a soup base, to a world of possibilities! Check out my new Crab Corn Chowder below.

Ingredients:

• 1 bag Bear Creek Creamy potato soup
• 1 lb lump crab meat
• 1 small container of crab claw meat (claws, like a soup bone, adds flavor. I used claws I had in the freezer)
• 3 cans white corn, drained
• 2 tablespoons of Old Bay ( more or less to taste)
• 1/2 cup of chopped parsley
• 2 cups of fish or seafood stock

Directions:

• Prepare the potato soup as directed, with one exception. Change 8 cups of water to 6 cups water plus 2 cups fish or seafood stock.
• Add Old Bay, parsley and allow to simmer on low for about 20 minutes. If soup starts to get to thick, add a little more stock (fish, vegetable, chicken, or even a little more water).
• Add crab meat and corn and let simmer for about 20 minutes. Don't allow soup to come to a boil at this point because it will break down the crab meat lumps and it's just too expensive to let that happen!
• And as I end all soup recipes...serve with warm, crusty bread

By the way, I used this same method last winter to make a wonderful clam chowder. Instead of crabs and corn, I made the soup, then added 1 dozen well scrubbed clams. Once they opened and the clams and juice mixed in with the soup, it was wonderful! (Okay, I also added some chopped cooked bacon and parsley...so good!) Point is, the soup can be the start of many wonder concoctions! Go ahead and get a little crazy! Oyster stew anyone?

Now, for a totally homemade great autumn soup, this very simple, but very tasty soup recipe came to me by way of my daughter in law's (Kathleen Phelps) BFF Caroline Harkins. I am always happy when Kitchen Clatter readers send me their recipes. Especially happy when they are this good! Using the flavors of the season, this soup would be fabulous on Thanksgiving!

Roasted Sweet Potato and Apple Soup

Ingredients:

Sweet Potato & Apple Soup

• 3 sweet potatoes
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 onion
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 apple
• Salt and pepper to taste

• Heat oven to 400° F.
• Prick the potatoes with a fork, place on a baking sheet, and roast until tender, 40 to 45 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, celery, and apple and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 10 to 12 minutes.
• Halve the potatoes, scoop out the flesh, and add to the saucepan. Add 6 cups water, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Cook until heated through, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Puree the soup in the saucepan using a handheld immersion blender (or, working in batches, a standard blender). Add water, if necessary, to reach the desired consistency. (I added a little chicken stock for thinning. Vegetable stock would work well too!)

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