Lynn's Version of CRAB AND CORN SOUP... SURPRISINGLY PRETTY GOOD!!!

Today is the 31st anniversary of PJ and my first date!!! (9-9-77) Normally he says Happy Anniversary first but this time I remembered first! I called him at work and he was very surprised that it was already the 9th! He was taking 1/2 a day today to take care of legal things with his mother so I decided to surprise him with a nice lunch. He brought tomatoes home from Saratoga the other day that need to be used so I made BLT sandwiches with them. BUT to make it extra special, I made my version of Crab & Corn Soup, one of our favorites. I had the ingredient list from Maxie's Supper Club in Ithaca (they won't give you the actual recipe). So I decided to wing it. We had 3 ears of corn left over from last nights dinner that I roasted on the grill so they had a nice smokey flavor. They would be perfect for this. I don't have a recipe for this soup. It's a little of this and a little of that all thrown together.

I started by cooking some bacon for the sandwiches and saving a little for the soup, including a few TBS of the grease to add to the oil and butter. Then I diced 2 ribs of celery and 2 shallots. I put 1/2 of a stick of butter in the pan, with a little veg oil so the butter doesn't burn on medium heat. I threw in the celery and onions and cooked them for about 10 minutes, making sure not to burn them. This brings out the sweetness in the onions. I added the leaves (chopped up) of about 3 sprigs of Thyme from my garden. Then, and I think this is what made it taste so good, I added about 1/4 of a cup of JOE'S SEASONINGS. This is from the New Orleans Cooking School. http://shopping.nosoc.com/

It's a low salt, no MSG, no preservatives all purpose seasoning, so really I guess any will do, but low salt would be best.

I stirred this through and cooked for a couple of minutes more. I added some flour, probably about 1/3 of a cup, and kept stirring for a few minutes more. I had about a quart of water that I froze from when I made corn in a pan so it has that delicious corn flavor. I dumped that in and kept stirring. I then added about 2 cups of 2% milk and kept cooking and stirring occasionally for about 10 more minutes. I then went to the fridge to get the 3 ears of corn. They were no where to be found! Chris must have eaten them in the middle of the night! I ended up finding some frozen corn, throwing that in and I even added a can of creamed corn! I cooked it for about 10 more minutes and it was basically finished. I spooned it into bowls and added chopped scallions and a little more Thyme to the top. DELICIOUS!

PJ was so impressed! He had the sandwich and soup and went back for a second bowl of soup!