Hearty vegetable chowder
Having friends visit is always an occasion for cooking up something delicious, so when my friend Lisa came out from Philadelphia, we seized the opportunity to cook together — something we both enjoy. I made my favorite pan-roasted chicken thighs for one dinner, along with the simple boiled potatoes that everyone seems to adore (I think it’s because I stir both butter and cream into them!).
For Lisa’s farewell dinner, I decided to make a pot of my favorite summer chowder. Made with chicken, fresh corn, and other vegetables, it’s seasoned with thyme and cumin and made rich with cream — or, on this occasion, coconut milk. Roasted poblano peppers and spices provide a warm undertone, while the coconut milk gives a the chowder a subtle nuttiness. Yum! I’ve posted the outline of this improvised soup in the Recipes section (see link, below).
ASIDE: The origins of the word “chowder” are uncertain, but it seems to have French ancestors. Wikipedia mentions chaudron (French for “cauldron”) and chodier (French-Caribbean creole for cooking pot) and chaudière (Quebecois French for “bucket”) as possible root words. Originally, chowder was a shipboard concoction, thickened with hardtack.
We served our chowder with a simple salad of fresh greens from the farmers’ market and a batch of rather phallic popovers. My friend Judith had gifted me with the popover pan: this was its first outing, and I hadn’t anticipated this result! They tasted amazing, despite their somewhat off-putting appearance.
A blessing before the meal
When I was growing up, our family always had a blessing before dinner. Sometimes someone would say grace, but just as often we would sing a blessing together. My sisters and I learned Johnny Appleseed’s blessing in school — or perhaps at Girl Scout camp — and it became our family’s go-to.
The Lord is good to me
And so I thank the Lord
For giving me the things I need
The sun and the rain and the apple seed.
The Lord is good to me.
We still sometimes sing it when we get together for dinner, and we always add a little harmony on the last line — like this:
Whether this blessing ever had anything directly to do with Johnny Appleseed I was not able to discover (I’m skeptical). However, a little online searching did locate some additional verses:
And every seed that grows
Will grow into a tree,
And one day soon there’ll be apples there,
For everyone in the world to share.
The Lord is good to me.
When I wake up each morning,
I’m happy as can be,
Because I know that with God’s care
The apple trees will still be there.
The Lord’s been good to me.
With gratitude for the simple pleasure of a good meal shared with good friends: food for the body and food for the soul!
Connections
- Wikipedia: Chowder
- Recipe: Pan-roasted chicken thighs
- Recipe: Summer vegetable chowder
- Recipe: Popovers
- Recipe: All-butter pie crust
- I found the additional lyrics here: Boy Scout Trail: Johnny Appleseed Grace
- Since reading Michael Pollan’s The Botany of Desire, my impressions of John Chapman (a.k.a. Johnny Appleseed) are forever changed. Pollan explains that because Chapman sowed apple seeds instead of grafting, which is the only way to control the quality of fruit on a new tree, his apples were fit mainly for cider and applejack, rather than for eating. However, in an era where clean drinking water was by no means a given, cider was the beverage of choice. Pollan dubs him the American Dionysus!
8 thoughts on “Hearty vegetable chowder”
Love your blessing…especially the harmony!
Thanks! It was easier to manage the overdubbing with this than with a round.
It sounds delicious, except I would leave the chicken out of it to live long and prosper as I am vegetarian. My copy of Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi arrived today, by the way, Jenny. Very, very yum!
Oh, thanks for the reminder about Simple, Liz! It hasn’t come out yet over here, but I pre-ordered it and am looking forward to diving in.
I agree with you about leaving out the chicken: there’s so much else going on in this soup that it’s not really needed.
Yum! I remember this delicious dinner and will try to recreate the chowder. What a lovely gift to start my morning by listening to you sing!
Always happy to cook for (and with) you, Lisa!
What fun to read, lick my lips in appreciation and hear your beautiful blessing. ❤️
If you make the chowder, Sue, let me know how it turns out!
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