Seafood Chowder

Fri, 2 October 2020

Chef: Shane Rigney from Riggers D8.

Seafood Chowder

(serves 3/4)

Ingredients:
1 medium white onion, finely diced
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1 stalk of celery, finely diced
1 medium carrot, peeled and finely diced
1 large potato, maris piper or rooster, peeled and cut into small cubes
1 stalk of lemongrass, lightly bruised with the back of a large knife
1 knob of ginger, peeled and minced
1 tsp. of ground turmeric
400ml of good chicken or fish stock. Fresh if possible or a pouch from a good food store.
Half a glass of decent white wine
200ml of whole milk
200ml of cream
50g of butter
50g of flour
Dash of olive oil
Butter for cooking
1 fillet of fresh salmon, cut into large chunks
1 fillet of fresh hake, cut into large chunks
1 fillet of smoked haddock, cut into chunks
200g of fresh mussels, deshelled or steam in a little wine and stock and deshell if you have the time reserving the cooking liquor for the soup
A bunch of fresh flat leaf parsley

Method:
1. In a large heavy bottomed saucepan or stock pot melt a knob of butter with a glug of olive oil and gently saute the onion, garlic, celery, carrot and potato over a gentle heat for 10 mins until soft
2. If cooking mussels from scratch, place in another large pan with a touch of stock, water and a dash of wine and place a lid on top over a gentle medium heat until the mussels have opened and when cool deshell, reserving the cooking juices to add to the soup
3. Mix the butter and flour to a thick roux in a mixing bowl, you can gently soften the butter in microwave but don't allow it to melt
4. Add the ginger, turmeric and lemongrass to the veggies and stir for one minute until you can smell the oils releasing. Add the wine to deglaze everything at the bottom of the pan for a min or so
5. Add the stock and the mussel juices and bring to a rolling boil stirring really well and reduce heat to allow to thicken stirring regularly for about 5 mins
6. The lemongrass will add a subtle flavour but will be removed so don't worry about it floating around
7. Add all of the fish and cook very gently for a further 5 minutes stirring until the fish is just cooked but not falling apart, you don't want the fish to break up.
8. Serve in bowls or chowder dishes with some chopped parsley on top.