Corn & Crab Chowder

Ingredients & spices :

2 strips turkey bacon
½ large onion, chopped
2½ Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 qt chicken or fish stock
¼ cup white wine
½ lb. red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into approx. ½-inch cubes
½ lb. corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
½ lb. crabmeat (or imitation crab)
¾ cup half and half
Kosher salt and ground white pepper, to taste

How to prepare :

Cut the turkey bacon into about ¼-inch cubes. It may be easier if you let the bacon sit in the freezer for a few minutes before dicing it.

Add the bacon to a heavy-bottomed sauce pot or soup pot, and heat it slowly over a low heat, stirring more or less constantly, for 3-4 minutes or until the fat is liquefied. Be careful not to let the fat burn. Lower the heat if it starts to smoke.

Add the chopped onion and cook it over a medium heat until it's translucent but not brown, another 4 minutes or so.

Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon while it's absorbed into the bacon fat, making a roux. Cook the roux for another 3-4 minutes, but like the onions, don't let it brown.

Slowly whisk in the stock, making sure the roux is fully incorporated into the liquid. Keep stirring while the mixture comes to a boil, and then add the wine.

Add the potatoes and simmer 15 minutes or so, or until you can easily pierce the potatoes with a knife. By the way, to simmer means to cook at just below the boiling point. You should see an occasional slow, gentle steam bubble, but not the rapid bubbling of a full boil.

While you're waiting for the potatoes to cook, heat the half and half in a small saucepan. You want it hot (but not boiling) so that when you add it to the soup in the next step, it won't cool down the chowder.

Add the corn and bring the chowder back to a simmer for just a moment. Then add the crab and stir in the hot half and half.

Season to taste with Kosher salt and white pepper, and serve right away.