Recipe: Creamy Roasted Corn Chowder

I found a recipe a while back for roasted corn chowder that I tweaked and modified a bit to make my own.  I posted about it on Facebook last night and received requests for the recipe.  I figured I'd post it here for all because this stuff is SERIOUSLY amazing.  :)

Ingredients
4 Tbsp Butter
1 onion, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
3 slices of bacon, sliced into bite size pieces, raw
2 tbsp minced garlic
5 ears of corn, roasted, and cut off the cob**
1/4 cup flour
3 cups chicken stock
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
1 cup shredded Sharp Cheddar cheese
1/3 cup green onions, sliced

Suggested garnish:  crumbled bacon, extra sliced green onions, extra shredded cheese, sour cream

Melt butter in your soup pot and sweat the onions and celery for about 5 minutes.  Add the bacon pieces and cook an additional 5 to 10 minutes on a medium high heat to render the fat and cook the bacon (it will remain soft, not crunchy).  Add garlic and corn, mix well and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the flour and stir to fully combine and coat the veggies in the pan and cook for an additional 1 to 2 minutes to cook the raw flour flavor out.

Add the chicken stock all at once and scrape the bottom of the pan to deglaze any tasty bits.  Turn the heat up and bring to a low boil, which will thicken the sauce slightly.  Add the heavy cream, stir to fully combine, turn the heat down to a low simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Once fully thickened, add all the cheeses and the green onion, stir to combine and melt the cheeses.  Serve piping hot, with any of the suggested garnishes above (or none at all) or something else of your choice,

This soup is EXCELLENT the next day as all the flavors combine.

**I have used unroasted canned or frozen corn to make this in the past and it is just as yummy!  Using fresh corn and roasting it does have a bunch more flavor, but this soup is very good using regular corn if that is what you have on hand.