Corn Chowder — Two AM Kitchen Light

Five weeks until graduation. The house has started to feel like a departure lounge — everything has the quality of temporary, of transit, of a place you're passing through rather than living in. Clay's room is slowly being organized, not packed but tidied in the way you tidy before a guest arrives, except the guest is absence and it's arriving in July.

I found him in the kitchen at two AM on Tuesday. He was eating cereal in the dark, which is his version of meditation. I came downstairs because my back woke me — it does that now, jolts me awake at odd hours with a electric flash of pain that says "Remember me? I'm still here." I walked into the kitchen and there was Clay, illuminated by the refrigerator light, eating Cheerios from the box without milk, staring at nothing.

"Can't sleep?" I said. "No," he said. "Me neither," I said. We stood in the kitchen in the dark and I ate Cheerios from his box and we didn't talk about why we couldn't sleep because we both knew and naming it would have made it larger. Two insomniac Hensley men eating dry cereal at two AM. If this were a painting, it would be called "Before" and the viewer would have to guess before what.

This week I made something new for the blog: corn chowder. Not because I had a specific memory attached to it but because corn chowder is the kind of food you make in late April when winter isn't quite done and spring isn't quite started and you want something that belongs to both seasons.

In a Dutch oven: cook diced bacon until crispy. Add diced onion, celery, and garlic. Cook in the bacon fat. Add diced potatoes and chicken broth. Simmer until potatoes are tender. Add corn (frozen, this time of year — the fresh corn won't be in until July). Add a cup of heavy cream. Season with thyme, salt, pepper, and a pinch of cayenne. Simmer ten more minutes. The chowder should be thick, creamy, studded with potato and corn, the bacon providing a salty crunch in every other spoonful.

Clay ate a bowl at midnight, which is becoming his eating hour. The boy is nocturnal now, sleeping through mornings and alive at night, as if his body is already adjusting to a schedule that hasn't been imposed yet. The Army will fix his sleep schedule. The Army will fix a lot of things about Clay's routine. But it won't fix the thing that keeps him up at night, because the thing that keeps him up at night is the same thing that keeps me up: the knowledge that he's about to do something that can't be undone, and the mixture of excitement and terror that comes with that knowledge, which is the exact mixture I felt at twenty-three when the mine tunnel opened before me like a mouth and I walked in.

Standing in that dark kitchen with Clay, eating dry Cheerios at two in the morning, I knew I’d be back at the stove the next day making something that felt like it could hold all the weight of these last five weeks. Corn chowder was the answer — thick enough to be substantial, warm enough to fight off the last of April’s chill, and the kind of thing you can leave on the stove for a boy who eats at midnight. Here’s how I made it.

Corn Chowder

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 50 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 6 slices thick-cut bacon, diced
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch cubes
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 4 cups frozen corn kernels
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Salt and black pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Cook the bacon. In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, cook the diced bacon until crispy, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate with a slotted spoon, leaving the rendered fat in the pot.
2. Sauté the aromatics. Add the diced onion and celery to the bacon fat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
3. Simmer the potatoes. Add the diced potatoes and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are fork-tender, about 12-15 minutes.
4. Add the corn and cream. Stir in the frozen corn kernels and heavy cream. Season with thyme, cayenne, salt, and pepper.
5. Finish the chowder. Simmer on low heat for 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chowder has thickened slightly and the corn is heated through. For a thicker chowder, use a potato masher to gently crush some of the potatoes against the side of the pot.
6. Serve. Ladle into bowls and top with the reserved crispy bacon.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 420 | Protein: 12g | Fat: 24g | Carbs: 42g | Fiber: 4g | Sodium: 780mg