SEAFOOD CHOWDER

Whenever weather turns cool, I get a craving to make a big pot of something. Soup, stew, chili, something along the lines of hot and hearty. I actually tried to make this earlier in the week, but I had used some crab stock from the freezer. “Wait, that sounds great!”  you say? Well unfortunately… I had made the stock from the liquid from a crab boil. Which, is admittedly, crammed with flavor… it is also crammed with a boatload of salt. So when I used the stock, I also used what seemed like 10 cups of salt. The whole batch had to be thrown out. 

This recipe is for more of a broth based chowder, if you like a traditional creamy tasting chowder, my cullen skink is a great option.

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Seafood Chowder

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
• 1 small onion chopped small
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 4 cups stock or a mix of clam juice and stock
• 2 leeks chopped small
• 1 fennel chopped small
• 1 heaping cup of fresh or frozen yellow and green beans cut pea sized
• 2 teaspoons lemon pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning
• 2 tablespoons of chopped fennel fronds
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh taragon
• 3 fillets white fish cubed, sprinkled liberally with Old Bay
• 3 tin of smoked oysters
• 1 342 g can of clams including the water
• Few dashes of Worcestershire sauce
• Few dashes of Pickapeppa Sauce
• 2 cup cream

Instructions

• Either melt down the bacon fat or render 4 pieces of bacon (that have been cut into small pieces) down, turn the heat down to medium low and add the onion, caraway seeds, and garlic. Stirring occasionally so the onions don't burn.
• Once the onion has softened, add the leeks and fennel and cook until softened. Stirring occasionally so the leeks don't burn.
• Add the beans, fennel, stock, bay leaves, lemon pepper, Old Bay, and a touch of salt. Bring to a soft boil.
• Add the fish, clams and smoked oysters, pickapeppa sauce, and worcestershire sauce and let simmer gently for about half an hour.
• Add the cream and bring back to a soft boil.
• Adjust salt and pepper to taste
• Sprinkle with croutons, parsley, crackers, whatever your topping of choice is.

Notes

Add smoked oysters, crab meat, clams, peas, carrots, celery, potatoes, whatever you like to the stock. If you add potatoes, add them after they’ve been mostly cooked through. Feel free to use some of the potato water instead of stock. If adding carrots and celery, put them in with the onions.
I love a thick soup, so would add a low carb thickener when its almost done. If you like a thick soup too, add about 2 tablespoons of flour to the onions when they have softened, stirring to mix. Just before you add the stock.

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