What's a week of corn recipes without a good old fashioned corn chowder?

Maybe it's not the sexiest recipe I have pulled out during this weeklong tribute to the sweetest girl of summer. But let's face it, corn and chowder are words that were destined to live together.

Google it and you get 544,000 matches, with Tyler Florence's version coming out on top and grandma's coming in second. Jenn from Bread + Butter rounds out the first page with her "easy" version (congrats Jenn!!).

All that googling tells ya something. It tells you people want chowder.

So to you, my people, I bring you this five hundred forty-fourth thousandth and one version. I can't quite tell you where my influences came from on this one because I have been eating corn chowder my whole life and making it almost as long. But I can tell you– though  it may never find google success,  if you make it you will have to admit the words corn and chowder were destined to live together.

If you speak Italian you probably realize that brodetto is a word that means more than one thing. To those in Florence brodetto is an eggy bread soup with lots of lemon served at Easter. However in towns closer to the Adriatic brodetto is a hearty kind of fish stew similar to what we might call cioppino, or what the Tuscans might refer to as cacciucco.

Why the confusion? Well, until modern times very few Italians spoke “Italian”! There were regional dialects and most people were more comfortable speaking the language of their families.

But all this does not explain why I had a bit of trouble finding a recipe for the traditional Italian fish soup I know as brodetto, and the point of this story. You see, it all started in Palm Springs last weekend. I know, I know– Palm Springs and Italian fish soup is a stretch, but let me explain. You see I discovered in Palm Springs that Marcalla Hazan has a wonderful version of brodetto in one of her cookbooks. I happened to flip through a copy while at a friend’s house there.

After glancing at that recipe (I saw pureed fish heads and I was sold) I knew I was destined to come home and research this soup. It’s what I do when I get food obsessed. But in this instance, I should have borrowed the book. Because when I got home I scoured the internet and my vast collection of cookbooks seeking out a version of her recipe or at least something similar enough. It was a no go! I came up empty handed. Partly because brodetto could be so many things, local ingredients seem to be the ties that bind the dish to the name. Those ingredients do not even have to be fish!

I have a tale to tell. It's a tale with a simple lesson. The lesson is this, use great ingredients from quality vendors and you will bring something special to the table. This post may start with a lesson, but it ends with a Giveaway. A giveaway from Tyler Florence and Marx Foods. So I hope you'll read through to the end and take place in this contest. In the meantime I have Roasted Lamb Loin with Sheep's Milk Ricotta Gnocchi, Morel Mushrooms, Pea Tendrils, and Lamb Jus.

You see it all started a couple of weeks ago. I went to the Pebble Beach Food and Wine Festival (#PBFW). I had a fantastic time.

I knew I would love it. It is just my kind of event. Mostly 'cuz there was great food and lots of it. I certainly had my fair share of the offerings and that would have been enough to qualify the weekend as very special indeed. But it was also a great opportunity to learn. Because there were cooking demonstrations and wine tasting events too.

One of these events was a cooking demonstration by Tyler Florence.

So when proposals came due for this month's FoodBuzz 24-24-24 challenge I immediately knew what I wanted to do. I decided I would recreate the meal he presented that day here on Sippity Sup for all of you. I realize it may not be quite the same as being there, but hey it's better than a swift kick in the pants, right?