Corn and Sweet Potato Chowder with Saffron Cream & Sharing Meals for #SoupSwapParty #sponsor

This sponsored post is written by me in conjunction with the The Book Club Cookbook
 for the second installment of their new food blogger party feature. All opinions are my own.

Here we are in the second month of the new food blogger party feature on The Book Club Cookbook website and I'm excited to be part of this event. This month's title is Soup Swap by Kathy Gunst.* You can check out details about the #SoupSwapParty: here.

On the Page...

Soup Swap by Kathy Gunst was a delightful surprise. I heard 'soup recipes' and was excited as 'soup season' is looming. Yes, that's a thing here on California's central coast. It gets gloomy and grey in the Fall, but a good soup can make our entire household smile!

The really fun part about this cookbook is in its title: "Comforting Recipes to Make and Share." The premise behind the Soup Swap is that you make enough soup for everyone to taste and, then, take some soup home. Everyone who attends does the same. Gunst's #SoupSwapParty is genius because we get to try several different soups and we get leftovers. 

We love leftovers and we especially adore leftovers that someone else made. But sharing a meal - breaking bread - with friends is something that I never tire of. Gunst just merged two of my favorites: good food and good friends!

After I received Gunst's book, I tested several of the recipes on my own; I served one of the recipes as part of a birthday luncheon; and I finally did a swap with one of my best friends two weekends ago. She made Gunst's Portuguese-Style Kale, White Bean, and Chorizo Soup (I'll share that recipe and Jenn's adaptations soon, but the photo is above); I opted for the Corn and Sweet Potato Chowder with Saffron Cream. I also served two different kinds of salad and bread.

Our boys - she has two and I have two - sat at their own table and enjoyed the meal while the adults enjoyed (mostly) uninterrupted conversation and uncorked a couple bottles of nice wine.

And, at the end of the evening, I jarred up some of my soup for her and spooned some of hers into containers to keep. I will definitely be hosting a #SoupSwapParty again soon.

Join the Author...

Soup Swap author Kathy Gunst will be on Twitter on Tuesday September 13, 2016, at  8 PM Eastern/5 PM Pacific. You'll have a chance to chat with her and fellow partygoers and swap soup stories using the hashtag #SoupSwapParty. Join the party!

Recipes excerpted from SOUP SWAP, © 2016 by Kathy Gunst. 

Reproduced by permission of Chronicle Books. All rights reserved.

In the Bowl...
Nothing says 'summer' like fresh corn on the cob. And I had some marvelous saffron that a friend brought back from Spain for me. So, I knew this was a recipe I had to try!

Corn and Sweet Potato Chowder with Saffron Cream

slightly adapted from Soup Swap

This is slightly adapted from Gunst's recipe because I had some homemade chicken-beef stock, that I made with leftover short ribs. So, this is no longer a vegetarian recipe because, as I do most of the time, I use what I have.

Ingredients makes 8 to 10 tasting portions or 6 full portions

• 5 to 6 large ears of corn (still in their husks)
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 large onion, peeled and diced
• 1 large yellow bell pepper, diced
• 1 large red bell pepper, diced
• 1 large sweet potato, scrubbed, dried, and cubed (or you can peel it, I didn't)
• freshly ground salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 1 T flour (I used rice flour to keep it gluten-free)
• 4 to 5 C homemade stock
• 3/4 C organic heavy cream
• 1 t saffron threads
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 2 to 3 T fresh cilantro, chopped

Procedure

Shuck the corn removing the husks and setting those aside. Remove the silks, you can toss those. Using a sharp knife, stand the cob on one end and slice all the way down, removing the kernels. Using the flat end of the knife, run the blade down the cob and collect the corn "milk." Set the cobs aside, you will use them later.

In a large souppot, heat the olive oil. Add the onions and until softened and beginning to turn translucent. Add the bell peppers and cook until softened. Stir in the sweet potato cubes. Cook for approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the flour and toss to coat the sweet potato cubes as much as possible. Whisk in the stock and bring to a boil.

Add the corncobs to the pot and return the liquid to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until the potatoes are almost tender, approximately 8 minutes.

While the soup cooks, pour cream into a small saucepan. Over low heat, warm the cream. Add the saffron and let steep for five minutes.

Add the saffron cream, corn kernels, and corn "milk" to the pot and simmer for five minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning, as needed. Using tongs, remove the cobs before serving.

To serve, ladle the chowder into mugs or bowls. Garnish with green onions and fresh cilantro.

With bellies full of soup, the crew moved to the family room and attacked Jake. I love our boys! And I especially love that the moms relaxed and sipped on honey-lavender tea while this testosterone fueled rumpus was going on.

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*Disclosure: I did receive a complimentary, advance reading copy of Soup Swap by Kathy Gunst for my participation in the #SoupSwapParty as well as complimentary items from event sponsors Chef's Choice and Zeroll. Opinions are my own. I received no further compensation for this post.