Queso Potato Chowder

1/4 cup butter
1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 cup finely chopped onion
3 poblano peppers, seeded and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 (20 oz) package refrigerated Southwestern-style hash brown potatoes
1/4 tsp ground cumin
2 (14 oz) cans low-sodium fat free chicken broth
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup half and half
1 cup (4 oz) freshly shredded asadero cheese (can use Monterey Jack cheese)
1 cup (4 oz) freshly shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
Toppings:  fried corn tortilla chips, coarsely chopped deli-fried chicken tenders, finely chopped red onion, sliced jalapeno peppers, fresh cilantro sprigs

Melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat; add bell pepper and next 3 ingredients, saute 4 - 5 minutes or until tender.  Add potatoes and cumin, saute 5 minutes or until browned and tender.  Gradually stir in broth, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of Dutch oven.  Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat to low and simmer 25 minutes.

Whisk together flour and next 2 ingredients.  Stir into potato mixture and cook over medium heat stirring constantly, 5 minutes or until thickened.  Reduce heat to low.  Add cheeses and cook, stirring constantly until cheeses melt and mixture is thoroughly heated.  Serve with desired toppings.

Photo provided by Southern Living

This chowder was pretty good but it wasn't what I was expecting.  The recipe calls for low sodium chicken broth but you might as well use regular chicken broth as I ended up having to season this a lot with salt to give it more taste.  Also, I had no clue what asadero cheese was so while I was at the grocery store I had to Google it on my iPhone to figure out what it was.  Turns out it was sold in the Mexican cheeses section that is close to where they sell sour cream, cottage cheese and cream cheese.  I didn't realize until just now when I was typing this review that I could have used Monteray Jack and it would have probably been better as I found that the asadero cheese didn't melt well and just kind of floated on top of the chowder.  It was a good soup and with some tweaking it could really be a great soup.  To me it needed more spice, more heat.  If I make it again I will definitely make some adjustments.