Recipe - Power Outage Corn Chowder

One fourth pound Bacon; minced
1 Onion; chopped
1 Carrot; chopped
1 Rib celery; chopped
1 Clove garlic; minced
One fourth cup Each green and red bell
pepper, chopped
1 Jalapeno pepper; seeded and
chopped
3 small Potatoes; peeled and minced
One half cup Water
One half cup Beer
1 "drystyle" smoked sausage
(about 6 " long, chopped
2 cn (about 17 oz. each)
creamstyle corn *
1 cup Halfandhalf
Salt and pepper to taste
One fourth cup Chopped fresh parsley
Grated cheddar cheese

Cook bacon in 4qt. pan over medium heat until mostly cooked. Set aside
about 2 Tbs. bacon bits for garnish. Drain off and discard drippings, all
but 2 Tbs. Add onion and vegetables to pan with bacon and reserved
drippings; cook, stirring often, until onion is soft (about 5 minutes). Add
potatoes, water, and beer, and cook about 15 minutes, or just until potato
is tender when pierced. Add sausage and corn; let come to a simmer, then
turn off heat and let sit until cool enough to put in fridge. Refrigerate
until about a half hour before you are ready to serve it. Reheat gently,
stirring often. When soup is hot, add halfandhalf and let come to a bare
simmer; do not boil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Optional: Garnish with parsley, grated cheese and additional bacon bits.
Makes 6 to 8 servings. Serve with homemade bread, and eat by candlelight.
:)

* Note: Try to find creamed corn that does not have added sugar. (Seems
like most canned creamed corn has sugar in it nowadays, so if you can't
find it without, don't worry about it. I usually add just a squeeze of
fresh lemon juice (1 to 2 tsp.) to cut the sweetness.)

P.S. It's called "Power Outage Corn Chowder" in honor of the first time
that I made it, when the lights went out just as we sat down to the table.
Just by coincidence, I had a candle on the table, so we lit it. It made a
rather plain meal into a festive occasion!
Posted to recipeludigest Volume 01 Number 322 by James and Susan Kirkland
kirkland@gj.net on Nov 28, 1997