Creamy Tomato Chicken Soup with Roasted Corn

Ingredients:

• 4 TBSP vegetable oil
  
• 4 slices bacon, chopped
  
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
  
• 1 TBSP rosemary, chopped
  
• 1 cup celery, minced
  
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
  
• 1/2 cup carrot, chopped
  
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  
• 1 bay leaf
  
• 2 cups frozen kernel corn
  
• 3 TBSP tomato paste
  
• 2 cups wine
  
• 4 cups chicken broth
  
• 1/2 cup milk
  
• 3 TBSP Butter

In a large pot, heat the vegetable oil over medium high heat. Add the chicken cubes, bacon, and rosemary and brown. Remove from pot. In the oil and juice left, saute the onion, celery, garlic, and carrot until very soft (about 5-6 minutes). Add the wine to deglaze the pot, bring to a simmer. Now add the tomato paste and simmer again. Add the broth and bay leaf, bring to a simmer for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour the corn into a dry skillet and heat over medium heat until it's nice and roasted. This could take a few minutes. Be careful not to burn it.

Remove the bay leaf from the soup pot. With an immersion blender (hand blender) puree the mixture until smooth. It's Ok if you can still still see small bits.

Add the butter a tablespoon at a time and then ad the milk. Heat to a simmer and season with salt and pepper to taste. Finally add the chicken back to the pot along with the roasted corn. Heat through and serve.