Prep Time: 30 minutes Cooking Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3-4 ears of fresh corn (if fresh corn isn’t available, a large bag of frozen corn will do)
• 1/2 lb of slab bacon
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 2 stalks, celery
• 8 cups, half & half
• 4 large Yukon Gold potatoes
• 1 stick salted butter
• 1TBSP vegetable, or olive oil
• 1TSP fresh thyme, finely minced (if you don’t have fresh thyme, use 1 1/2TSP dried thyme)
• 2TSP white pepper (adjust to taste)
• 2TSP salt (adjust to taste)
• 1TSP smoked paprika

Cooking Instructions:

• Dice yellow onion and celery
• Peel and dice potatoes
• Slice corn off the ears
• Cook bacon until crisp, but not crumbling; drain on paper towels and dice
• Place large stockpot over medium heat, adding oil
• Add onion and celery; stir occasionally until onions become translucent (3-5 mins)
• Add 1/2 of the butter, thyme, paprika and pepper, blend with onion/celery and heat for ~1 minute
• Add potatoes to mixture and be sure to coat them with the spice mixture, turning gently in the pot (~3 minutes)
• Add bacon, remaining butter, salt, pepper, paprika
• Add half & half
• Cover and cook over medium-low heat (so it is simmering, not boiling) for ~60 minutes. When potatoes are fork tender and it has reached the desired thickness, it’s ready to eat. If the chowder is not thick enough, continue to cook uncovered until liquid is reduced. Alternatively, you can add 2TBSP of corn starch slurry: mix starch with water until dissolved. Stir in the slurry and continue stirring for 2-3 minutes; it should tighten up the chowder in 10 minutes, or so.