She almost stole my recipe! Corn, crab and shrimp chowder ...

Oh emm jee Lan, I actually was thinking about making a bacon based vichyssoise for this month's challenge (very unconventional), but decided not to because I really wanted chowder. So I ended up making corn, crab and shrimp chowder, I guess I'm glad I did!!

This is a recipe that has sort of grown over the years, it always comes out different, warm, better, tastier and this time I don't know why but I felt the need to use shrimp instead of clams or white fish. I really just like this recipe because it's full of potatoes and corn, two of my favorite soup ingredients.

(1) can of sweet corn
(2) cans of crab (lump preferred) or those of you in the south, get the fresh stuff!
(4) cups of seafood stock (seasoned and boiled lobster shells + shrimp shells)
(3) cups of light cream (or heavy cream if you so desire)
(6) strips of bacon, cut into small pieces
(4) cloves of garlic, halved not chopped
(1) pound of large shirmp, de-veined and halved
(4) medium-large yukon gold potatoes, cubed
(1) large onion finely chopped
woooorcestershire sauce
tabasco sauce
(2) sprigs of thyme
(1) tbsp Old Bay seasoning
(1) tbsp Salt
Pepper

In a pot, cook finely cut bacon until almost brown, remove from heat and disgard all but one tablespoon of the bacon fat, set the bacon aside. Put pot back on the burner and add in onions and sautee until transluscent, add bacon back in and sautee for another 2-3 mins, do not burn bacon to a crisp. Season with salt, back pepper. Add in seafood stock and bring to a simmer. While it's coming to temp, peel & cut potatoes into small cubes.



Add in can of corn (with liquid), garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, 1 tablespoon tabasco and woooorcestershire sauces and bring to a gentle boil. Add in cans of crab with juices, and potatotes and let simmer for 30-40 mins. While soup is simmering, peel, de-vein and halve shrimp. Add in light cream, old bay and shrimp, bring back up to a light simmer for 15 mins. You may need to skim the top of the soup as needed.

Cook up some more bacon and crumble on top, serve with some warm delicious bread on a cold day.