Garden update – it’s been a great zucchini, cucumber, pumpkin and butternut squash season; despite we bought honey dew melon plants not pumpkin. It’s been an OK tomato, acorn squash, potato and summer squash and a few small onion season and a why bother carrot, swiss chard, beets, eggplant the list goes on and on. I do hope not only the ones I personally gave veggies to were able to enjoy them as well as the people that picked up all the veggies I left at the end of the driveway on my little table also enjoyed them. And to whoever left some change in the mailbox; that was very kind.
So what to do with the 4 ridiculously small carrots and one of my last summer squash; the fatter off colored one I ended up throwing in the compost pile; It didn’t look right when I cut it open. I or rather the weather has decided it is becoming soup season quicker than I would like so I googled myself, I do that ALL the time and harvest chowder didn’t come up. Firstly I couldn’t believe I haven’t shared this recipe; or maybe I have and I labeled it something else; who knows with me I’m all over the place. But I initially made Harvest Chowder in a soup cooking class I took; it has to be over 15 years ago. It’s one of my husbands favorites though thankfully the list of his “favorites” is pretty extensive. I mean it could be his favorite today, or this week or this year if you get my drift. Anyway he was psyched that I was thinking about making it.
I actually did end up changing it a bit from what I made in class; only for I wanted to use up what I had on hand that needed to be eaten or used up before going in the trash. I do this a lot; I hate throwing out perfectly good food so I make something with what I need to. could be one of my super powers. sure why not!
I will share with you the original recipe then tell you how I made this one.
Harvest Chowder
Ingredients
- 1 small onion diced
- 2 medium carrot's peeled and diced
- 1 rib celery diced
- 6 ounces ham sliced and diced
- 1 small zucchini sliced
- 1 small summer squash sliced
- 2 medium potatoes peeled and diced
- 7 tablespoon butter
- 6 tablespoon flour
- 3-4 cups milk
- thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- kosher salt and black pepper
Instructions
- In a dutch oven or stock pot melt 1 tablespoon of butter and saute the onions, celery and carrots for a few minutes. Add ham and potatoes and continue sauteing
- Add about 1 1/2 cups of milk to the ham and veggies, some thyme and a bay leaf. Simmer this mixture while you prepare the cream base for the soup and allow the potatoes to cook through.
- In a medium saucepan melt 6 tablespoons of butter and add the flour stirring to make a roux, allow to cook on low stirring constantly for 3-4 minute. be careful not to burn it.
- Add all the milk at once, while whisking constantly. allow to simmer until it reaches the thickness that you are wanting for your chowder.
- Add the roux to your ham and veggies, at this time I would add both of the squash. I personally do not like over done squash so simmer just until they are aldente. Adjust the seasoning and enjoy!
What I did a little differently this time
- I used less milk and simmered all the veggies in some homemade chicken stock. I did make the roux out of milk which gave me the creaminess but my chowder was a little on the lighter side instead of using all that milk. I also had some mashed potatoes and some corn leftover from dinner the night before and I added those. The mashed potatoes helped thicken the chowder even more and the corn added a little sweetness.
