Meatless Monday with Hearty Vegan Corn Chowder

Welcome (back) to the Miratel blog and to our Meatless Monday vegan recipe share series. Miratel took the Meatless Monday pledge to support reducing meat consumption 15% by eliminating it one day per week to preserve the health of our planet. We consider our support of this great movement part of our CSR business strategies as it spreads awareness of the impact of our food choices on our environment.

As the weather gets colder, soup becomes a wonderful and warming go-to meal. Just because you want to eat vegan doesn’t mean you have to give up creamy soups or chowders. On the menu tonight is a hearty vegan corn chowder, which comes by way of Modern Vintage Cooking. Now let’s get started.

Hearty Vegan Corn Chowder Ingredients:

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  Photo credit: http://modernvintagecooking.blogspot.ca/

  1 medium onion, chopped

• 1 celery stalk, chopped and leaves removed and reserved
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 Tablespoon fresh thyme, minced (or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• Pinch of freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Tablespoon whole wheat flour
• 1 cup vegetable stock (I used homemade, but low-sodium store-bought versions work)
• 2 cups plain almond or soy milk
• 1 medium russet or Yukon Gold potato, peeled and chopped into small cubes
• 2 cups fresh or frozen corn (about 2 ears of fresh corn – and keep the cobs)
• 2 green onions

Directions:

1. Saute the onion, celery, and carrot in the olive oil over medium heat until the vegetables are soft and start to brown. Stir in the thyme and the salt and stir to coat the vegetables. Add the flour and stir the vegetables for a few minutes.
2. Add the stock, stirring constantly so the soup doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. The stock mixture will start to thicken and become smooth. Add the milk and potato and stir to combine. If you used fresh corn, add the cob(s) to the mixture at this point (they’ll make the soup even creamier). Cook until the potatoes are just tender, about 10 minutes.
3. While the soup is cooking, chop the celery leaves. Trim the ends off the green onions and thinly slice the white and green parts. When the potatoes are tender, stir in the corn, celery leaves, and onions.
4. Transfer about 1/4 to 1/3 of the soup to a blender and blend on high speed until the mixture is smooth. The more you blend, the thicker the soup will become.
5. Add the blended mixture back to the pot. Bring the soup back to a boil and serve.

This vegan corn chowder will yield four servings, and like any soup can be adapted to feed a crowd. Serve this hearty vegan corn chowder with a green salad and some crustini or garlic bread.

If you haven’t already, we encourage you to visit the Meatless Monday website and join us in taking the pledge today. Spread the word at home and at work and promote CSR business initiatives to make your green call centre, office, factory, shop, restaurant or salon even greener.

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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.