Seafood and Corn Chowder
2014
The trouble with being lactose intolerant is that eating at restaurants can be a hazard, and forget about anything cream based – just forget about it. But I love dairy everything which means I have learned to cook things I can eat that don’t make me sick. I also love the fact that I know exactly what I am putting in my food. A few weeks ago, I had an intense craving for a seafood chowder, so I did the only logical thing possible – I invented my own recipe for one. This soup is quite brothy and not heavy and thick, but we loved that about it since it meant you could eat more. You can certainly use whole milk, or even cream in place of 2% milk and if you wanted to thicken it you could use more flour, or even a touch of corn starch. I feel that the depth of flavor – the sweetness from the corn, the seafood goodness, and the slight touch of heat more than made up for the lack of thickness. This is the perfect dish for a cold winter night like tonight.
Ingredients:
4 small or 3 medium potatoes (I used a mix of Idaho and red bliss, but it doesn’t matter much)
1 large stalk of celery
1 med-large onion
1 large clove of garlic
2-3 scallions
1 bag of frozen corn (or 3-4 corn cobs, with kernels cut off the cob)
1 box low sodium chicken broth
1 box chicken stock (has stronger flavor)
1 quart of 2% milk (I used lactaid but obviously you are free to use regular)
2-3 tbps flour
Cooking oil (I use olive oil, but any is fine)
Less than half a pound of shell on shrimp
Frozen (or fresh) seafood mix of your choice (mine had small scallops, shrimp and calmari from Trader Joe’s)
¼ lb fish cut into small chunks – I used cod
Chili powder
Chili flakes
Garlic powder
Salt
2 bay leaves
Smoked paprika (I get mine at Trader Joe’s and use it non-stop)
- Clean shrimp and set aside shrimp shells, cut shrimp into small chunks, combine with other seafood
- Peel and cut potatoes into bite sized cubes (I didn’t peel the red bliss potatoes)
- Pour chicken stock and broth into a pot, throw in shrimp shells and set on high heat to bring to a boil
- Finely dice onion, celery and whites of scallion into small pieces; start sweating in a skillet in some oil (don’t let brown, get it translucent)
- Throw potatoes into chicken stock after 10 min, add 2 bay leaves
- Chop 1 clove of garlic, add to onion mixture once it has softened significantly, cook for a few minutes, again avoid browning
- As foam rises in liquid pot, skim it off. After another 10 min, when potatoes are almost cooked, take out shrimp shells
- Add oil to skillet with onion, toss in flour, stir mixture continuously to cook flour but avoid burning, after cooking a few minutes, add whole mixture to liquid pot. Bring back to boil.
- Add in salt, garlic powder, pepper flakes (careful with these or omit if you don’t like spicy), touch of chili powder, palmful of smoked paprika
- Dump in bag of frozen corn, bring to boil
- Once boiling, add all seafood, cook for 2 min, add in quart (or almost full quart of milk)
- Bring to boil, make sure shrimp is pink – add seasoning as necessary – take out bay leaves
- If soup needs thickening, you can cook more flour in oil until lightly tan/brown, then add into pot and dissolve
- Finish soup off with chopped greens of scallions