Creamy Corn Chowder with Bacon and BBQ Shrimp

 

I never used to be much of a soup person, but I've really changed my ways the last year or so.  Maybe it's because when I make my own soups, I add butter, heavy cream, salt, bacon....  This definitely isn't the way my mother made soup (bland, greasy turkey noodle for a week after Thanksgiving, anybody?).

I adapted this recipe from How Sweet It Is.  I've borrowed a few of this blogger's recipes, she seems to be a hedonist, much like myself.

Ingredients:

8 slices of bacon
1 red onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp flour
8 ears of grilled fresh corn, cut off the cob
2 cups of chicken stock
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup milk

1 tbsp butter
1 pound of raw, peeled and deveined shrimp, preferably with the shell on
1/3 cup barbecue sauce

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp garlic powder (for grilling corn and shrimp)
Salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

Heat a pan to medium heat.  Add bacon slices and cook until crispy.  Remove bacon and let it drain on paper towels.

In a large pot, melt butter.  Add onions and red pepper and cook until soft.  Add the garlic and cook for an additional minute.  Whisk in the flour, then add the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

While soup is simmering, heat grill to high.  Season the shrimp and corn with olive oil, garlic powder, and salt and pepper.  Cook corn for about 5 minutes per side, shrimp for about 3 minutes per side, or until pink. Remove from grill.  Remove tails/shells from shrimp and toss with barbecue sauce.  Once corn has cooled, remove from cob (a serrated knife will work best for this).

Next, stir milk and cream into soup.  Add cayenne pepper, corn, and salt and pepper to taste. Serve in bowls topped with the crumbled bacon and shrimp.  

This may sound like a strange combo - bacon, shrimp and BBQ sauce mixed in a cream soup?  But somehow, the smokiness of the grilled corn, bacon, and BBQ sauce all work together delightfully.  Trust me.  Enjoy!