Ingredients
1 ½ medium orange (or red) sweet peppers
½ c quinoa, rinsed
1 T butter
1 small white onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 ½ T flour
2 c Simple Chicken Stock (or vegetable stock)
1 c heavy whipping cream
1 10 oz pkg frozen corn
15-oz can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 T minced fresh flat leaf parsley
¼ t minced fresh thyme
¾ t salt
¾ t pepper
Directions
1 Cut peppers in half length-wise. Place on baking sheet covered with foil. Broil peppers 4” from the heat source until skins blister and blacken, about 15 minutes. Immediately place peppers in a bowl; cover; and let stand for 20 minutes. Remove stems and seeds. Peel off and discard charred skin. Chop peppers.
2 In a Dutch oven, cook rinsed quinoa over medium-high heat stirring frequently for 3–5 minutes until water from rinsing evaporates and quinoa starts to smell toasted; remove from the pan.
3 In the same pan, heat butter over medium heat. Add onion; cook and stir until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic; cook and stir about 1 minute longer. Stir in flour until blended. Gradually whisk in stock and cream.
4 Add corn, beans, roasted peppers and quinoa; bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in salt, pepper, and fresh herbs.
This soup has corn providing the main flavor in a lovely creamy chowder, and with the addition of quinoa it is a very hearty soup indeed. I think I might want to switch out the pinto beans for peas. The beans just seemed unnecessary and don’t meld into the chowder. Pinto beans tend to bring the creaminess to dishes, and this soup definitely does not need assistance with that. I think peas would work; they have a nice creamy texture but a lighter feel and a sweetness that would complement the corn. But really, nothing else is needed; corn is great as the star of this chowder and can carry the main flavor on its own. This is definitely a soup that works as a meal; and with quinoa in it, no oyster crackers are needed for this chowder. Hearty Quinoa & Corn Chowder, a nice hearty cold-weather soup!
If you’d like to see the original recipes my posts are based on or read Taste of Home’s article that inspired my 50 Soups in 25 Weeks blogging, go to: https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/soups-to-keep-you-warm-this-fall/.
