Seafood Chowder
Dress it up with nice china and a silver spoon served as a seafood course with a buttery wine or get cozy with a big bowl, sitting crisscross in a comfy chair, and a baguette to tear. Seafood chowder can be as fancy or as comforting as you want it to be.
Seafood Chowder
Category
Soup
Appetizer
Main Course
Servings/Yield
Yield 4 quarts
Author
Helen Park
Dress it up with nice china and a silver spoon served as a seafood course with a buttery wine or get cozy with a big bowl, sitting crisscross in a comfy chair, and a baguette to tear. Seafood chowder can be as fancy or as comforting as you want it to be.
Ingredients
2 Tbsp butter
-
2 Tbsp olive oil
6 oz bacon, diced ¼” (1 cup)
1 large onion, diced ½” (1 cup)
2 ribs celery, diced ½” (1 cup)
1leek diced ½” (1 cup)
2 Tbsp garlic chopped
-
1 Tbsp fine sea salt
½ cup white wine
¼ cup all purpose or gluten free flour
2 qts chicken stock, vegetable stock, or water
-
1 Tbsp Galil blend
-
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 pound Yukon gold potato (2-3 depending on size), peeled and sliced 1/8” thick
6oz can good quality chopped clam or 8oz fresh chopped clam
½ pound large peeled and deveined frozen shrimp
½ pound frozen bay scallop
1 cup heavy cream
Directions
In a heavy bottom pot, melt the butter with olive oil and add the bacon to render over medium heat.
When the bacon is golden brown, as if ready to eat straight from the pot, add the onion, celery, leek, garlic and salt. Sweat, stirring occasionally, until the onions and celery turn translucent.
Add the wine and cook for a few minutes just to evaporate the alcohol.
Sprinkle in the flour and cook, stirring continuously, as the flour cooks and the pot looks dry on the bottom.
Add the Galil, black pepper, stock, and potatoes. Stir well, scraping any stickiness from the pot with a wooden spoon to deglaze.
Bring everything to a boil, stirring occasionally to check the bottom of the pot, and reduce the heat to simmer for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are just barely tender.
When ready, add the seafood and heavy cream and turn the heat up to boil again, moving the seafood and vegetables gently to avoid breaking the potato slices.
When the shrimp is just barely cooked and the scallops are warmed through, turn the heat off and adjust the seasoning with more salt and pepper if needed.
The chowder will loosen slightly as the seafood cooks, resulting in a delicately and creamy seafood warmth with slices of potatoes, tender bacon morsels, and leek and celery bites with the uplifting balance of lemon verbena and white cardamom from Galil.
Recipe Note
Recipe Notes
If you have fresh seafood, watch the cooking time as they will cook even faster than the frozen. I do think the soup works better with frozen seafood – and it’s a great one to plan ahead for or keep things on hand for rainy/snowy days. The seafood can also be changed up according to personal preference.
Variations and Ideas
This potato chowder is the oldest recipe I have made – since I was a child. The ingredients are very much the same, but I made it with corn instead of seafood. Feel free to substitute the seafood with just over a pound of corn, seasonal squash, fresh cod or bite size pieces of chicken thigh.
Usage Ideas
Add some puff pastry or pie dough on top and bake until golden brown in a baking dish and this soup turns into a great pot pie – laced with Galil!
Questions? Contact helen@laboiteny.com
