Country Chowder
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This is it! Today we have our first, honest to goodness chilly day. There is a glorious crisp wind blowing and I sent both of my kids off to school wearing jackets. I dug back in the far recesses of my closet and came out with a sweatshirt and a comfy pair of jeans that haven’t seen daylight for months. As soon as I put them on we all just sighed happily together. AHHH Fall . So now we need a warm and soothing meal to go along with it. Today’s recipe is one I have named Country Chowder. I took some of my favorite flavors and cooked them up together in a rich and creamy broth filled with flavor. This is a hearty meal that just makes your stomach happy and it’s even better the next day!
For the country chowder you’ll need: Heavy Cream, frozen pepper and onion blend*, Corn, potatoes, carrots, a roll of breakfast sausage*, chopped turnip greens*, and some form of chicken broth as a cooking base*.
Substitutions are a plenty on this recipe!
*Pepper and Onion Blend – I use frozen because a bag is just a dollar and I get three colors of bell pepper strips as well as onions so this saves money and gives me variety. If you’d rather use fresh, just chop up 1/2 an onion and 1 bell pepper (any color) as a substitute.
*Breakfast Sausage – if you want a slightly spicier soup, use hot breakfast pork sausage. I’m using mild. You could also use Italian sausage and substitute the dried Parsley with dried Italian seasoning for a different flavor direction.
*Turnip Greens – Spinach will work just as well or you can omit the greens entirely.
*Chicken Broth – I’m using a chicken base paste which makes 2 quarts of broth with just 1 1/2 tablespoons of base! I often use things like this or bouillon cubes to save money and storage space. I also like that I can make my broth more concentrated if I want for even more flavor. However, you can use actual chicken broth if you like, or any of the things I use. Exact quantities are in the recipe at the end of this post.
Don’t like carrots or corn? Leave ’em out! Don’t have russet potatoes? use red! Don’t have heavy cream? Heavy cream is best but evaporated milk and even whole milk will work as a substitution.
Other things you’ll need for Country Chowder:
Potato flakes, Garlic Powder, Dried Parsley, Crushed Red Pepper Flakes, Salt, and Pepper.
My potato flakes aren’t pictured because I took these pictures early in the morning and as it turns out, potato flakes aren’t that into the morning 🙂 Use your imagination. They are white and look like flakes.
Potato flakes are the handiest things to use as thickeners in soups and stews. I love them in my mama’s chicken stew and they are even part of the crust in my Taco Casserole. I even use them to feed my sourdough starter! The only thing I don’t use potato flakes for is making mashed potatoes 🙂
Peel carrots and wash potatoes, then slice carrots and cut potatoes into cubes.
I like to leave the skin on my potatoes but you can peel it off if you prefer.
Another shortcut when making Country Chowder is to just use a bag of frozen cubed hash browns and even frozen carrots!
Okay this is my chicken broth all assembled. Add your potatoes, carrots, and onions.
See? Put this over medium high heat and bring it to a light boil, stirring every now and then, while you prepare sausage.
While that is cooking, chop up and brown sausage in a large skillet over medium high heat until it is fully cooked and no longer pink in the center.
When your sausage is cooked, push it to the side of the pan and add in frozen pepper and onion blend.
I love this frozen pepper and onion blend!
Let that cook for a few minutes, stirring every now and then, until completely thawed.
Once it’s thawed, stir it up good and continue cooking until tender, three or four more minutes.
Add that to your pot.
If your potatoes and carrots aren’t tender by this time, it’s okay, they’ll keep cooking.
Add in turnip greens ….
…and all seasonings and stir well.
Bring it to a light boil once again and let simmer for fifteen more minutes.
My salt is camouflaged in this photo but it is in the bottom right corner.
Pour in cream…
and add potato flakes.
Stir well and cook five to ten minutes more.
Serve Country Chowder hot with a good hearty bread.
Even better the next day!
Ingredients
- 8 cups chicken broth see post on economical ways to get this
- 1 pound mild or spicy pork breakfast sausage
- 4 Russet Potatoes washed and cubed with skins on
- 2 carrots peeled and sliced into rounds
- 12 ounce bag frozen pepper and onion blend - or 1/2 cup diced onion & 1 diced bell pepper
- 2 cups corn
- 2 cups chopped turnip greens fresh or frozen, can substitute spinach
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup instant potato flakes
Seasonings
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- 1 +1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper Go easy here if you use hot sausage
Instructions
- Place chicken broth in a large stock pot over medium high heat. Add potatoes, carrots, and corn.
- In a large skillet also over medium high heat, chop up and brown sausage until fully cooked and no longer pink in the center. Move sausage to side of the skillet and add in frozen pepper blend to the other side. Cook for three to four minutes, or until fully thawed.
- Stir together sausage and pepper blend and cook for another three or four minutes before adding to stock pot. Stir well.
- Add in turnip greens and all other seasonings and bring to a gentle boil.
- Allow to simmer fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Pour in cream and add potato flakes. Stir well. Simmer five to ten minutes more.
Serve hot with a hearty bread. Leftovers are even better the next day.
Nutrition
“When you carry out acts of kindness you get a wonderful feeling inside.
It is as though something inside your body responds and says, yes, this is how I ought to feel.”
~Harold Kushner
I am so ready for cooler weather down here Christy! We got a little break on that last cold front & then it got REAL hot again. You know what they say, it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity! We just started cooling off today again with this last cold front that moved through – was a BEAUTIFUL day. Our cool is about 85 though, so no sweaters or jackets just yet, but at least it’s better than it has been. Your soup sounds real nice too – I’m ready to start souping it up myself!!
LOVE these cooler days and your chowder sounds RIGHT ON! I’ll be trying this soon. I also love the frozen onion and pepper blends and use them often. They’re more economical than fresh, and of course the convenience is a no-brainer. Just one comment, though, Christy, about instant p potatoes;
I’ve been holding this in for a while, so here goes: I’ve wanted to tell you for a while now and this just seems like the time. I really don’t like instant potatoes, except for one kind: IDAHOAN (brand) ROASTED GARLIC (flavor). They’re at my Walmart in 4-oz., 4 (1/2 cup) servings. They have other flavors but to me this is THE BEST! A little pricey at about $1 per pkg but are perfectly seasoned (to me) and what a time-saver! Christy, wish I could give you a couple of packs to try (I keep them on hand) to try cause I know it’s hard for me to get somethin’ I haven’t tried but honey I can just about guarantee you’ll like them! And they do NOT TASTE LIKE INSTANT to me; in fact they taste HOMEMADE to me.
Christy, your new floor is as pretty as a speckled puppy! I so look forward to your posts and recipes — you really brighten up my day! Also, I’m hooked on Beat the Chefs now — such fun! Thanks for all you do!
Hi Christy, what did you use to chop up on your sausage? I have never seen that gadget you were using.
It looks lije a gismo I have from Pampered Chef…LOVE their amazing stuff!
I’m not Christy but I believe that is the Mix and Chop from Pampered Chef. Hope that helps! 🙂
I have one of them, too, and it works really well to chop up ground meats when you are cooking it. I got it someplace on line or from Publishers Clearing House or something like that. I love gadgets. Have to put together a large cabinet to just put my small appliances in. This is in a bottom drawer as don’t use it all the time, but it works great when needed. I wish I could tell exactly where I got mine or what it is called. I got it from a catalog or a place like that.
This will be on the menu next week as I heard today the highs will only be 70’s…Fall is coming on too soon. This chowder looks FAB and I am sure it will taste every bite as good as your telling about it. And the floors are beautiful too! I’d take a pic there too!
Christy you have some of the most delish recipes i have ever eaten including your chicken stew which was out of this world and i bet this one is right up there on that list. I dont know where you come up with these fine recipes but keep them coming as they are great and so r you.
a very devoted fan
It is 86 degrees in Jacksonville, FL but one day it will be cool enough to make this. My husband loves sausage and anything with heavy cream in it, so it will be a fun new recipe to try (around the end of October-maybe!).
Hi just wondered if you can use frozen spinch and leave out the turnip greens? Thank for the awesome recipe.. TeeJay