Corn chowder

Fall is in the air and I have been busily making (or at least thinking about) all of the different soups I'm planning to make. We made lentil again last week and it was gobbled up.

I had some frozen roasted corn sitting in the freezer that I had from a party this summer and decided to make a corn chowder from it.

Here's my recipe for the chowder, it can easily be made vegetarian by omitting the proscuitto, but it adds a nice smoky flavor.

8 oz. package diced proscuitto
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 finely diced onion ( I used my vidalia chop wizard)
3 C. roasted corn kernels (Trader Joe's sells a bag of roasted corn kernels that are good)
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
2 C. milk ( I use non-fat)
1 C. water
2 tbs. Better than Bouillon
3 Yukon gold potatoes, finely diced ( I used my vidalia chop wizard)
kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 C. leftover roasted cauliflower ( I threw this in because it was in the fridge, completely optional!)
Other options- add in 1 C. cooked quinoa, 1 C. fresh lump crab meat, 1 C. diced red pepper

Saute proscuitto in butter for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in diced onion and continue cooking for 2 more minutes. Add in remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and let cook for 30 minutes.

Season to taste with salt and pepper, and using a hand mixer, puree soup until mostly smooth. I like a little body in the soup.

Cover and continue cooking on low or serve.