Chicken Corn Chowder

I deboned my roasted chicken while it was warm, and then kept it in the fridge until I was ready to make the chowder the next day. I used the entire chicken EXCEPT FOR the wings (which I had for lunch the day I was deboning it) and one breast (which I saved for chicken sandwiches tomorrow). After deboning the chicken, I cut the larger pieces into chunks.

In your stock pot (or Dutch oven or soup pot), start to simmer three cups of chicken broth with your chunked chicken, creamed corn, frozen corn and potatoes. Meanwhile, cook your bacon until crispy. Remove and pat dry to degrease it. Take your onion and celery and cook it in the bacon grease. Because everything is better when cooked in bacon grease. It’s a fact.

Cook for exactly the length of time it takes to find “Alive and Kicking” by Simple Minds on your iPod, play it, and get your groove on. On the last “ba ba da da da, ba ba da da da, ba ba da oh, ba ba da oh” part, the onion and celery will be done. Kitchen timer, who?

When the onion and celery are tender (see timing method above), remove from the bacon grease with a slotted spoon. Don’t dump your veggies with grease into the chowder pot. A little bacon grease goes a long way. Take your cooked bacon and crumble it into the pot as well.

Bring to a boil, then simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15-20 minutes, or the length of time it takes to go to Google and find out whatever happened to Jim Kerr, from Simple Minds (goodbye Crissie Hynde, hello Patsy Kensit!), and to friend him on Facebook (oh yes, I did). When your potatoes are tender, crank your heat back up from a simmer to about medium, and stir in the evaporated milk, cooking sherry and Zatarain’s. Stir it all in, and then reduce back to a simmer.

Add black pepper and parsley flakes to taste. I used 20 twists of the pepper mill, which covered the top of the pot, and then about an equal amount of parsley. Stir it in.

And voila, you’re done. I served my chowder with butter croissants. Easy. Delicious.