Veggie Chowdah...

So the bounty of late summer left me with a drawer full of veggies in my fridge, and I was thinking about creative ways to use all of them, perhaps even in a manner that I could enjoy later this year!  My mind turned to soups, and I smiled.  I love chowders (or chowdahs, as New Englanders in my life like to say!), so decided I would make a non-traditional veggie chowder.

I started by cutting up all my veggies.  I used potatoes, corn, mushrooms (not from my CSA, but I love mushrooms!), bell peppers, a couple hot peppers, some onions and some garlic.  I started by boiling the potatoes until they were relatively soft.  I then drained them, added some fresh water to the pot, and pureed some of them with my immersion blender.

Separately, I sauteed the mushrooms, then added those.  I then sauteed the onions and garlic together, then when they began to caramelize I added the bell and hot peppers.  I added all of this to my potato mixture, pureed a bit more, and added my corn.  At this point, I added a bit more water and let it cook down a while as the vegetable flavors melded.  To this point, the only seasoning was the hot peppers adding a nice bite to the soup. 

After another quick puree, I added a bit of salt, stirred and cooked.  Then I tasted again, added a bit of cream to make it a touch richer, and stirred.  It was spicy, fresh and rich, with only a touch of cream to make it less healthy. 

I poured most of the soup into freezer containers, and have it in the freezer for later in the fall, and even winter!  Some of it, though, I had to have for dinner then.  It had a nice, slow heat to it, and tasted like a garden of fresh vegetables.  I am excited about enjoying it in the cold weather, too!