Chicken and Potato Chowder

All good soups start with bacon! You’ll need:

• 3 strips (I used center cut) bacon
• 1/2 medium sized white onion
• 1 1/2 - 2 TBS butter
• 1/4 cup plus 1 TBS flour
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup whole or 2% milk
• 3-4 cups chopped yukon gold potatoes
• 1 lb chicken (I use boneless skinless thighs), chopped
• 1/2 cup frozen corn
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Bay leaf
• Nutmeg

Cut the bacon into small (slightly bigger than bacon bit size) pieces with kitchen scissors into a soup pot. Cook on medium for a few minutes until it starts sizzling. Meanwhile, dice the onion and add to the bacon. Cook for a few more minutes until the onions are translucent. Add the butter (unless you’re using full fat bacon, in which case you probably won’t need the butter) and stir until melted. Add the flour and whisk until combined. It kind of looks like a congealed mess at this point but that’s ok. Continue to cook while whisking for a couple more minutes, but don’t let it burn.

This is how much nutmeg to use.

Add the chicken broth and whisk until smooth; add the milk and whisk to combine. Add diced potatoes, chicken, salt and pepper, nutmeg and a bay leaf. I forgot to measure how much nutmeg I put in, so I took a photo before I stirred it. Go easy on the salt until you taste it later, especially if you used full sodium stock.

Simmer for 1 – 1 1/2 hours on low, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom. Don’t sit reading your kindle and drinking wine and forget about it! Once the chicken is cooked, taste it to see if you need more salt and pepper. Add the frozen corn and cook for another 10-15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let cool for about 10 minutes before you serve.

This did not make as much soup as I was hoping (I like leftovers), next time I would probably double it. It made 2 big servings which we ate for dinner, plus one smaller leftover serving.

Since there are no veggies in this, I made a mixed green salad with shaved asiago, grape tomatoes, and lemon honey dressing. I forgot to measure exactly how much of everything I used in the dressing, but it was good. Approximately, it was the juice of one lemon, a heaping teaspoon of honey (thank you Bridget and Aaron) and probably 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil. Shake well!

Based on rough calculations dividing it into 3 servings, this is about 530 calories per bowl. You could skip the bacon (which would be crazy), use a lower-fat milk (I did whole), and/or use boneless skinless chicken breast, all of which would lower the calorie count a bit. Still, at 530 calories it is very filling, and still far less than a chowder you would get at a restaurant. Serve with red wine!