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Creamy Italian Fish Chowder
Ingredients
Sauce to serve with finished portions
1 28-ounce can whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes
2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium garlic clove, minced
4 large mint leaves, minced
6 large basil leaves, minced
1/2 teaspoon dry oregano
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Chowder
1 pound shell on uncooked shrimp, (26–30 per pound)
3 ounces salt pork, diced small (follow this method)
3 ounces bacon, diced small
2 cups onion, diced
1 cup celery, diced small
1 tablespoon fresh garlic, minced
3 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into bit sized cubes
4 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour (more if you like thick chowder)
6 8-ounce bottles clam juice
12-ounce container chopped fresh clams
2 teaspoon fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound scallops (if using seas scallops, remove and discard muscle attached to scallop)
1 haddock filet, skin removed and cut into bite sized pieces (12–16 ounces)
1 can “Jumbo Lump” crab meat *Optional
2 cups heavy cream
Instructions
- Pour the can of tomatoes into a medium saucepan. Pick out the whole tomatoes and cut in half or quarters and set aside. Any liquid on the cutting board, add to the sauce pan with the tomato liquid.
- Add the olive oil, garlic, mint, basil, oregano, salt sugar and pepper to the tomato liquid and bring to a slow simmer. Put a splatter screen over the top and let simmer on low for the entire time you are preparing the chowder. We reduced our sauce for an hour. Stir occasionally.
- Peel the shrimp and place the shells in a second sauce pan with three cups of water and bring to a simmer and reduce down to one cup of liquid, watching to make sure the liquid doesn’t foam up and spill over as it cooks. This should take 20-30 minutes to reduce to one cup. Discard shells and set liquid aside. Place peeled shrimp back in the refrigerator until later.
- Peel and cut the potatoes into bite sized cubes and hold in cold water until ready to cook.
- In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, add the salt pork and bacon and cook until crisp and golden, about ten minutes.
- Add onions, celery, garlic and half of the cut-up potatoes and cook until the onion and celery are tender. This step adds potato starch to the mixture and helps with thickening.
- Once the onions and celery are tender, add the butter and after it melts, stir in the flour with a wooden spoon and cook for about two minutes to cook out the raw flour smell.
- Add the reserve shrimp broth, the rest of the potatoes, all of the clam juice, chopped clams, thyme, bay leaves and black pepper.
- Bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender, about ten minutes.
- Add the scallops, peeled shrimp, haddock and crab if using and heat the chowder to hot. The seafood should be fully cooked by the time the chowder is back up to temperature.
- Pick out and discard the bay leaves and stir in the cream and add in the cut-up tomatoes. Heat just until hot.
- Taste for salt if needed.
- To serve, ladle chowder in bowls and spoon reduced tomato sauce into the center of each serving. Serve with oyster crackers.
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Notes
*Crab meat is very expensive. Feel free to omit and replace with one pound of any of the other seafood choices such as more shrimp, haddock or scallops. Total seafood should be four pounds.
Find it online: https://www.afamilyfeast.com/creamy-italian-seafood-chowder/
