Seafood Chowder

Name: Seafood Chowder
Yield: serves 6
Ingredients: bouquet garni made up of 6 parsley stalks, 2 sprigs of thyme and a bay leaf; 1–1½ tablespoons olive or sunflower oil; 675 g haddock, monkfish, winter cod or any other firm white fish (or a mixture), free of bones and skin; 450 g mixed, cooked shellfish e.g, mussels, clams scallops, shrimps or prawns and the cooking liquor (see pages 194, 82, 74); 170–225 g chopped onions; 150 ml light cream; parsley and chives; 110 g streaky bacon (rind removed), cut into 7mm dice (blanch if necessary); 6 medium-sized ‘floury’ potatoes, cut into 7mm dice; 450 ml milk; salt and freshly ground pepper; 450 ml home-made fish stock or, as a last resort, water; pinch of cayenne pepper; 30 g flour; pinch of mace

Preparation info

serves
6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Darina Allen's Simply Delicious Suppers

By Darina Allen

Published 2001

About

A chowder is a wonderfully substantial fish soup which could almost be classified as a stew. It is certainly a meal in itself and there are lots of variations on the theme.

Ingredients

1–1½ tablespoons olive or sunflower oil
110 g streaky bacon (rind removed), cut into 7mm dice (blanch if necessary)

Stew
Soup

Method

Heat the oil in a stainless steel saucepan and brown the bacon well until it is crisp and golden. Add the onion, cover and sweat for a few minutes over a low heat. Stir in the flour and cook for a couple of minutes more. Add the fish stock or water gradually, then the milk, bouquet garni and potatoes. Season well with salt, pepper, mace and cayenne. Cover and simmer until the potatoes are almos