Seafood Chowder (Soup)
Seafood Chowder (Soup)
Mamta Gupta
The best seafood chowders I have ever had was in a small place in Alaska many, many years ago. On a recent trip to San Francisco (2004), we had it again, this time served in hollowed out sour dough bread. It was scrumptious!
It is a filling soup, but if you are still hungry after you have eaten up your soup, you could always eat the bowl at the end!
This recipe originates from tweaking it from some hints given by the locals in SF and to be like the taste I remembered.
It works, I have tried it several times, it is tasty. The only difference from the one we had in USA is that mine looks a little more yellow than the USA one. I guess that the fresh corn that I used was different to USA corn and gave the soup it's creamy yellow colour.
Makes enough for 4-6
Ingredients
1/2 cup shelled prawns
4-5 prepared scallops, thickly sliced
A handful of fresh or frozen mussels, chopped squid etc., if you like them
1 tbs. butter or olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed or grated
2 rashers of smoked bacon, finely chopped. You can omit bacon if you do not eat meat
1 leek, thinly sliced or chopped
1 green pepper (bell pepper or capsicum), deseeded and finely chopped
1 stalk of celery, cleaned and finely chopped
1-2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 fresh corn cobs, kernels taken off the cob with a sharp knife. You can use a small tin of corn or 1 cup of frozen corn kernels
1 1/2 tbs. plain white flour
1 pint or 500 ml. or 2-3 cups milk
1 1/2 cup chicken stock
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
1 small carton of single cream
Instructions
Wash and leave sea food in a colander/sieve, for the water to drain away.
Prepare all vegetables as described in ingredients.
Puree half the corn kernels in a blender, with a little milk.
Heat butter/oil in a large pan, add leeks, bacon and garlic. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes.
Add all vegetables, except the corn, and cook on low heat, until vegetables are translucent. This takes 4-5 minutes.
Add flour and stir-fry for a further 1 minute, just like making a white sauce.
Add corn kernels, pureed corn, milk, stock, salt and pepper.
Boil and then simmer for 10-15 minutes, until potatoes are cooked.
Add the prawns, scallops and other seafood, cook for further 3-4 minutes.
Adjust seasoning.
Add cream and stir.
Serve hot with bread.
Also see Soup Selection.
Notes
In San Francisco, the chowder is served with in a hollowed out sour dough bread roll.
