Perfected over the course of many evenings after long hikes, speedy bike rides, and beautiful cross country ski trips, Alex’s Famous Seafood Chowder is a favorite on cold and overcast evenings. This hearty meal comes together quickly and can be improvised around a few key ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1 onion
- 3 carrots
- 3 celery stalks
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 2-4 potatoes (waxy potatoes like Yukon gold work well)
- 2 tablespoons miso paste
- 2 teaspoons Hon Dashi
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 1 1/2 cup water
- 1 pint half and half
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 lb seafood (salmon, shrimp, halibut, and canned clams are great options)
- Fresh parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme
- Pepper (to taste)
Steps
- Dice onions, carrots, and celery. You should have about two parts onion to one part carrot to one part celery. Sauté in first pan until soft.
- While sauteing, it is time to make the fishy wine broth! In a pyrex liquid measuring cup, mix the miso paste with soy sauce and Hon Dashi until smooth. Then add white wine and mix until smooth before adding water. Microwave for 10-30 seconds to warm and dissolve ingredients.
- In a second pan, make a roux with butter and flour, cooking it on medium heat until brown like caramel.
- Add broth to roux in half cup increments. Stir in each half cup until fully incorporated, heating until bubbles form.
- Add half and half, heating until bubbles form once again.
- Pour the sauce mixture into the pan with the veg and add diced potatoes and diced garlic. Cook on medium heat and cover until potatoes are fork tender.
- Turn off the heat and mix in seafood. (Alex’s pro tip: Even if your seafood is raw, it cooks very quickly, so the residual heat from all of the liquid in the chowder will cook it.)
- Mix in fresh parsley, thyme, and pepper. The broth tends to be salty with the soy sauce and miso paste, so be sure to taste the chowder before adding more salt.
- Enjoy your chowder with crusty sourdough bread!
Featured image: Wikimedia Commons
Leave a Reply