Cheesy Corn Chowder

Recently the boy and I caught the tin bird over to Belfast where we met up with family and exercised my inner Titanic obsessive.

While on the trip, we found a cozy little hole in the back alley called Made in Belfast. With a menu filled with ethically, locally sourced (and beautifully flavoured!) foods, and a drool worthy collection of repurposed table settings - we were set for the night...and the morning when we returned for brunch.

While eating our starters (a gorgeously thick cauliflower soup with homemade foccacia for me), I jealously watched as the boys dined on a scrumptious looking seafood chowder and immediately made a mental note to cook my own veggie & red leicester-loaded chowder when we came back home.

Much to my happiness, my meat-lovin man was very happy with the veggie equivalent.

Ingredients:

32 oz vegetable broth

2 small cans sweet corn

1 pack instant potatoes (smash!)

4 stalks celery

1 onion

2 carrots

1 garlic clove 

dash -o- salt and pepper

margarine

1/2 pint of heavy whipping cream

2 cups of red leicester

3-4 large baking potatoes. 

How To:

Chop 4 stalks of celery, 1 onion, 2 carrots and saute them in a pan with margarine, garlic, pepper and salt. (You may need to add more salt and pepper once everything is together.)

Once onions are opaque: add 2 cans of vegetable broth (32ish oz.), two cans of sweet kernel corn, two cans of water and 3-4 cubed baking potatoes. Boil until the potatoes are tender.

(Tip: I soak the cubed potatoes in cold water while they wait to be added to the mix - this keeps them from turning into a nasty brown colour!)

Add 1/2 pint of heavy cream, 2 cups of shredded red leicester. Once the cheese has melted add the potato flakes until the chowder is the thickness that you want. I add one packet.

*Meat eaters can garnish with bacon bits if you like! (I always garnish with a bit more cheese!)

Enjoy!