The in-laws were coming for dinner on a Friday night. When I invited them, I said I would make something simple, so Martha’s Corn and Shrimp Chowder with Bacon (July Martha Stewart Everyday Food) fit the bill. I’m a sucker for chowder and the surprising thing about clam or shrimp chowder is that it doesn’t have to cook long at all, unlike other soups.

To start, I cut the corn off the cobs. I am highly skilled at this, if I do say so myself. I used to freeze dozens and dozens of ears of corn every summer and developed a system. I used to use an old tube pan. I would put the ear of corn on the hole in the middle and it would hold it in place while I cut the corn off, then scraped the cobs with the back of the knife to get all the juice.

This soup was simple – cook some bacon, then cook your green onion whites in the grease. Add the potatoes and cook in a mix of milk and water. The recipe calls for thyme and seafood seasoning and it was the perfect mix. I did add more flour than this calls for because I like my chowder thick. And I added some heavy cream. You add your shrimp in at the end because it cooks quickly. I happened to have some lobster tail that was brought home by Teen Martha from a dinner she was at, so I threw that in too.

The soup was delicious. Very simple to make and very flavorful. Instead of water, I would use some seafood stock (I didn’t have any on hand).  The recipe says this makes 4 servings. I fed 6 people with this and had lots left over. This was the main part of our meal too – I served it with bread and salad.