Far be it from me to disparage any home cook, but I have to say my mom had it pretty easy when it came to summer cooking – thanks to fresh corn and tomatoes. Where we spent our summers, in a little town in Delaware wedged between the bay and endless cornfields, we had access to fresh sweet corn picked daily and ripe beefsteak tomatoes that loved the loamy soil and the blazing sun and grew to the size of softballs.
My mother took full advantage of this and served us practically the same meal every night: corn on the cob (or succotash – that’s another story, but a good one), sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper (or fried tomatoes – ripe, not green), and either fried flounder my uncles had caught or barbecued Delaware chicken, cut into pieces.
We didn’t complain because we all liked this menu – and we knew that after Labor Day, we’d be back in Washington, D.C., eating casseroles and frozen peas.
Fast forward many years to my life on the Vineyard, where I became so obsessed with farms that I decided to do some farming myself and even opened a farm stand. I grew many, many tomatoes. I also had the opportunity to sell Morning Glory Farm corn at my farm stand, so I was rolling in tomatoes and corn. Hurrah! Even better, the bounty didn’t end with Labor Day – not only because I didn’t have to leave the Island to go home to the city, but because the growing season lasts way into the fall on the Island.
Now I had a new problem: coming up with creative ways to use all that corn and all those tomatoes over a period of months. I didn’t want to fall into my mother’s trap – not that there’s anything wrong with simple! But also, as a recipe developer, I had a built-in challenge to find new things to do with these veggies. That was just fine with me. Corn and tomatoes are so versatile and delicious that it’s easy to be inspired by them, and
I found the challenge fun.
Over time I have featured corn and tomatoes in recipes for salads, sauces, and side dishes; pastas, frittatas, and gratins; tarts, toasts, and tian. So many delicious things! But there was one thing I found myself coming back to again and again: soups. I made cold tomato soups and hot tomato soups. I put fresh corn into chowder and made harvest minestrone with tomatoes and corn. When I stopped to think about it, I realized that I was drawn to soups for their ability to bridge the seasons. An early fall soup that uses late summer ingredients is both bright and comforting at the same time.
That’s where I found myself this year when thinking about a new recipe to feature two of my very favorite ingredients. I wanted something that would be just as welcome on a breezy late September day as it would be on one of those first chilly evenings in October. I’m happy to say that after a little time in the kitchen, my Tomato Corn Chowder with Bacon and Leeks (see recipe on the following page) certainly fits that bill.
It was inspired by my harvest minestrone. I began by considering what it would be like to replace most of the vegetables with corn, and to raise the amount of plum tomatoes in the base. I’d still need to build some backbone for the soup from the bottom up, so I decided a healthy portion of sliced leeks, caramelized in a pot after cooking a few strips of bacon, would get things going – along with garlic, thyme, and a bit of coriander and cumin. A heap of diced fresh plum tomatoes would go in next and cook down a bit until thickened, flavorful, and brick-red in color. (I decided to toss in a Parmigiano-Reggiano rind during this stage as well.)
I also knew that I wanted to make a quick broth from the corn cobs and combine that with the tomato base for the perfect soup consistency. And that I would then add in a very generous amount of corn kernels. Parmigiano, crumbled bacon, and basil for the finish.
I’ll admit, as I was cutting up all those plum tomatoes and slicing the corn off the cob, I thought: “This is definitely a late summer/early fall Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon kind of project.” But when I finished photographing a couple bowls of soup later in the day, and my husband and I each took a spoon and started sampling, I knew the prep time had been worth it. Both of us kept saying, “We really should save this for dinner,” and then kept eating. The alchemy was there. I hope it will be for you too.
Because the recipe yields a big batch, we ate it for three nights straight without complaint. But I feel confident you could freeze this. Because the tomatoes and corn have already been cooked, the texture should not suffer. This means the soup is another great way to preserve your fall tomato harvest (or that big box of bargain tomatoes you buy at Morning Glory Farm in Edgartown or Ghost Island Farm in West Tisbury at the end of the season). When you get tired of making tomato sauce, you can make a batch of this soup, portion it into freezer containers, and save a little taste of late summer to eat in early winter. And while you’re eating it, you can dream up new ways to use tomatoes and corn next summer – and let me know what you’re thinking!
