Corn, Crab and Potato Soup: Chunky Potato-Crab Chowder with Chipotle Cheddar Biscuits

I am so stoked that the weather is finally warm and this weekend was perfect...made me think of beer and crabs.  I had a really big craving for both so I decided to test my hand at cooking again.  A few weeks ago acquired a 3rd degree burn on my hand from trying to cook a steak in a frying pan.  The oil splashed out and let me tell you, it was not a pleasant site.  Regardless, I am glad I got past that little fear because this soup was awesome.  I found it in an old copy of Cooking Light magazine.  I am always a little skeptical about Cooking Light recipes because they always seem to be hit or miss and after spending $16.99 on 8 ounces of crab meat, I did not want to end up with a nasty soup.  BUT...the recipe seemed promising enough so I gave it a try and I'm so glad I did.  I paired the soup with Chipotle Cheddar Biscuits, another fabulous recipe from 'Baked' Cookbook.  The night ended with Miller Lite, Biscuits, Crab Chowder, my good friend Allyson, and of course...GLEE.  Needless to say, it was a good night.


chunky potato crab chowder.
2 Tablespoons butter
1 Cup chopped onion
3/4 Cup chopped celery*
1 Garlic clove, minced
3 1/2 Cups cubed red potato (I used baby red potatoes and cut them into quarters, worked well)
3 Tablespoons all purpose flour
2 1/2 Cups of 2% reduced-fat milk (I used skim, the thickness was still good)
2 Teaspoons chopped fresh thyme*
1/2 Teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 Teaspoon grated whole nutmeg*
1 (14 and 3/4 oz) can creamed style corn
1 (14 oz) can fat free, reduced sodium chicken broth
8 oz lump crab meet (shell pieces removed)
3 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 Teaspoon salt

*I didn't put the celery in for 2 reasons: A) I didn't have any. B) I don't know, it seemed weird with crab to me.  I very well could be wrong, if you make this and use the celery, let me know how it turns out, maybe I will add it next time. Make sure not to skimp on the thyme.  It adds a really good flavor to the soup.  As far as the grated whole nutmeg, maybe I'm an idiot but I had no idea what that was supposed to mean.  I just used ground nutmeg from my spice rack...seemed fine to me.

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Add onion, garlic and celery; saute for 4 minutes.
3. Sprinkle with flour; stir for 1 minute.
4. Stir in milk, thyme, pepper, nutmeg, corn and broth; bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently.
5. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender (20 minutes worked well, it probably could have simmered for a few minutes less if you like a little more texture in your potatoes); stirring occasionally
6. Stir in crab, parsley and salt; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

This was so good and the biscuits were a really nice compliment to it.  I reheated it for dinner tonight, didn't taste AS good as yesterday but I would definitely not let it go to waste! Biscuit recipe is here: Chipotle Cheddar Biscuits