Corn Chowder and Buttermilk Biscuits

My mom made corn chowder all the time.  It was good, fast and cheap and everyone loved it.  I make it, too.  I even follow her recipe, although I never measured the veggies, just kind of guessed.  When I made it this time, however, I measured.  I found out that I put in a lot more veggies than she did.  I also like to put in fresh corn. 

In the south, biscuits are a very personal thing.  I have a lot of different recipes for biscuits that go with different things.  These are easy, buttermilk biscuits.  They are very forgiving.  This time, I actually only had half the amount of buttermilk that was called for, so I used milk.  They turned out fine.  I should have, also, brushed the top of the uncooked biscuits with buttermilk so they would be more golden brown - but I had run out of buttermilk.  I also didn't roll them like specified, just patted them down to cut them. *sigh*  Oh, well.  No one had a problem eating them, however.

Corn Chowder

2 cups water

1/2 - 1 cup raw carrot slices

1/2 - 1 cup raw celery slices

2 cups chopped potatoes (peeled or not, your choice)

1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

2 cups milk

1 cup Parmesan cheese

1 can creamed corn

1 cup (?) fresh corn cut from the cob (or frozen corn)

Salt and Pepper to taste

In a large saucepan, place the water, carrots, celery, potatoes, and onion.  Bring to a boil and boil for 15 minutes. Do not drain.

In the meantime, in another sauce pan, melt the 1/4 cup butter.  To the butter, add flour and stir constantly until it is combined and makes a light roux (kind of like a paste, not browned like for gumbo).  To the flour mixture, add the milk and stir until it starts to thicken.  This is a white sauce.

To the white sauce, add the creamed corn, fresh corn and cheese.  Stir and simmer.  It will thicken.  Do not let it boil.

Pour the white sauce into the undrained, cooked vegetables and stir to combine.  Taste and season with salt and pepper, if desired.

Buttermilk Biscuits

4 cups all-purpose flour

4 Tablespoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into chunks

1 1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment or spray with non-stick spray.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl with a whisk.  Add the butter and cut into the flour or rub between your hands until it looks like peas and flour.  You want little chunks of butter and you don't want to overwork it.  The butter melts while it cooks to create flakiness.

Add the buttermilk, moving your hand, with fingers apart, in circles to incorporate it into the dry ingredients.  The dough is mixed when it barely comes together.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface.  Pat and roll it into a 1 inch thick rectangle.  Using a floured round cutter (I use a glass) cut as many biscuits as you can.  Cut straight down and up, don't twist, you don't want to seal the edges.   Arrange the biscuits on the parchment-lined sheet so they touch.  Brush the top of the biscuits with buttermilk.

Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.