Soup & Stephenson

Ever bought a cookbook for one specific recipe? I do it all the time, especially at garage sales. I'm always on the look out for the "HP The Book of" series of cookbooks, they are these little skinny things, with simple recipes, easy instruction, and good photos. When I saw "The Book of Regional American Cooking Heartland" cookbook at a garage sale for 50 cents, I tell you it was love at first sight. especially since it had a Corn Chowder recipe in it. I've been making little changes to my Mom's old fashioned corn chowder over the years, and this one looked good. and the cookbook has tons of wild rice recipes, yummy stuff!

I tried to find a link on Amazon for this cookbook. The title didn't bring anything up, but the Author, BEatrice Ojakangas? She's got pages of Finnish and Norwegian and bread cookbooks. That's pretty cool!

I made a few modifications to her recipe, as I was trying to blend it with my Mom's recipe, which is my favorite corn soup ever, but really simple.

Corn Chowder, improved.
(adapted from The Book of Regional American Cooking Heartland, by Beatrice Ojakangas)
4 slices turkey bacon
one onion, chopped
1 cup chopped carrot
2 tbsp flour
1/2 tbsp paprika
4-5 cups chicken broth
5-6 red potatoes diced
1 cup milk (I had some cream in the fridge, so i used that up, and the rest was milk)
1 lb bag frozen corn, thawed
3 green onions, sliced thin
1 tbsp chopped cilantro


cook bacon in some oil in a large non-stick pot. when cooked, remove and dice. cook onion and carrot in grease, till soft, about 10 minutes. stir in flour, and cook, stiring, another few minutes. don't stop stiring, you don't want the flour to burn! stir in paprika and potatoes. stir well, then pour in chicken stock. simmer over medium heat until potatoes are tender. add chopped bacon, milk, corn, and green onions, and cook another 10 minutes or until all is hot. season with salt and pepper, garnish with cilantro.

This was the first corn soup that my husband finished. Usually he has a bowl or two, and I pig out on the rest, but this time he kept beating me to the leftovers!

vegetarian/kosher version? Omit meat, use vegetable broth. I don't suggest using straight water, it would be too bland.

so onto Neal Stephenson, who I'm sure you're sick of hearing me bitch about.

Which means of course when I saw The Confusion, the sequel to Quicksilver, I had to buy it. come on, it was on the clearance rack! And you know what? It's better than Quicksilver. A Lot better. Or maybe it's an easier read because I know who these characters are, and I'm kind of expecting the wild goose chases? regardless, it should keep me busy for a while.