Bountiful Basket

June 10, 2011

http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/

My husband has been chatting about this for a while.    I kept hearing him in the back of my mind…”My co-worker and his wife do this thing, where you get a basket of produce…”

Well, last Saturday, he showed up with a huge box of produce.  Apparently, his coworker’s wife volunteers for bountiful baskets and they just knew we would love it.  Kevin strolled in Saturday morning with a box filled with fresh, gorgeous produce.  Our bountiful basket included:

·         10 ears of sweet spring corn

·         1 head of celery

·         1 head of romaine lettuce

·         1 lb. of strawberries

·         1 lb. of red seedless grapes

·         3 artichokes

·         3 lb. bag of new potatoes

·         2 lbs. of apples

The price tag you may ask for this bounty???  $15.00! I know! Crazy right! It was pretty incredible. 

In chef world, we would refer to this as a market basket.  You get a basket of awesome stuff and create something fabulous out of it.  Obviously, my culinary wheels started spinning.  I suppose this is a good time to mention that my better half and I are slightly notorious for good produce gone bad.  We just get so dang overzealous at the store.  We dream up all the delectable things we are going to cook and buy all the goods, but we generally don’t get to it in time.  So, in order to avoid such nonsense, I wanted to get started right away.  It was a no brainer…Corn Chowder!  This summer corn was going to be put to good use pronto! 

I ran over to the store to supplement my bounty.  I picked up some Serrano chilies, green onions, cream, bacon and parsley.  I put on a nice afternoon movie while I shucked and cleaned the corn.  I rubbed the cobs down with a bit of olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper.  I then laid them out on a sheet pan and roasted them, about 375 degrees, turning once, until browned on the tips of the kernels.  In the meantime, I diced potatoes, seeded and chopped the chilies, chopped celery, green onion, and parsley.  I snipped up the bacon and browned it in a stock pot.  I removed the crispy bits and added in the veggies and potatoes to sauté.  I added in chicken broth and skim milk to cover and simmer.  Next, I cut all the kernels off the corn cobs and pureed them in the blender with the heavy cream.  I left half of the kernels whole and added them to the pot.  I let the soup simmer for about an hour and served it garnished with bacon bits and crumbled queso fresco (a fresh Mexican cheese.)  Everyone was quite pleased with the results. My dad and uncle helped themselves to a second bowl; always a good sign.   I received a text from Kevin later that night at work, “best corn chowder ever!” 

Admittedly, this was a slightly decadent recipe.  However, the bacon and heavy cream could have been easily omitted.  Lighten it up by just sticking to the skim milk, and garnish with turkey bacon.  Another option includes sticking to vegetarian by using vegetable stock and just garnish with cheese.  It would still be delicious and showcase the incredible corn.

The strawberries, grapes, apples and artichokes wandered into my lunch bag throughout the week.  It really was a cool thing and I know we will be getting another bountiful basket soon!