We love Autumn for its bright colours and lots of different fruits and vegetables it brings to our tables. It’s a time to try new recipes and get back to some good classics. Today we cooked corn chowder – one of the ultimate comfort foods. It’s hearty, light and easy to make. We always add special spiced butter to a bowl to give the chowder a heat and a bright look!

Ingredients:

chowder x4 portions 

• 1 large leek cut into roughly 1cm squares
• ¾ tsp fresh thyme leaves
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 30g butter
• 2 celery sticks, cut into 1cm
• 220g waxy potatoes cut into 1cm dice
• 500ml good quality vegetable stock
• 4 fresh corn cobs, corn shaved off. Milk the stalks by running the back of a knife down them and wringing them out like a dishcloth then and add to the dairy milk.
• 300ml milk
• 20g fresh coriander leaves, very roughly chopped

spiced butter

• ¾ tsp cumin seeds ground and toaste
• ¾ tsp coriander seeds ground and toasted
• 60g butter
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• Maldon sea salt and white pepper

Method:

Gently sauté the leek in a large saucepan along with the thyme, bay leaves, olive oil and butter. Once soft and slightly translucent, add the celery, potato and stock. Cook for about 10 minutes, until the potato is almost totally tender. It is important not to over-cook the potato, to ensure a nice, firmish texture in the finished soup.

Remove the bay leaves and add the corn to the soup. Transfer about a half of the soup into another pan and blitz until completely smooth. Return the blended mixture to the main pot and add the milk. Simmer for two to three minutes, taste, season with salt, and remove from the heat.

For the spiced butter, grind the cumin and coriander with a pestle and mortar, place in a dry frying pan, heat up and after about 30 seconds, when you can smell the aroma of the spices, add the butter, paprika, salt and white pepper. Stir to combine, and take off the heat as soon as the butter has melted.

To serve, ladle the soup into four bowls, drizzle each with spiced butter and top with the fresh coriander leaves.