Chowhound's Chowder

Hello world!!! Yes, I'm still alive. I know it's been eternity since any sort of activity happened in my little corner of the blogosphere. Nothing too exciting really. I'd been doing nothing but work, school, work and more school stuff. Snore... snore... snore... yeah, it's really boring but there are little pauses in between where I get to play a bit in the kitchen. Most of the things I came up with are barely edible but there are ones that are just pure bliss (or I think so anyway). Here's an example. This is a seafood chowder that I came up with one rainy and super windy weekend using items I fished out of my fridge and my cupboard as I was trying to tidy them up.




Chowhound's Chowder

1/2 lb shrimp, peeled
1 cup of roughly chopped smoked salmon
1 can of chopped clams, drained and rinsed (reserve and use juice)
4 slices of lean bacon, finely chopped
2 cups of Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cubed
5 cups of water or chicken stock
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup frozen peas
1 small red pepper, chopped
2 medium carrot, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely diced
1/2 cup of finely chopped celery
1/2 cup of finely chopped green onions
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1 cup heated half and half or whole milk
salt and pepper to taste
tabasco sauce to taste



Here's how to make it.

Render the fat from the bacon (even lean bacon has fat) and sautee the onion until caramelized. Add garlic, celery, carrots, red peppers, bay leaf and thyme and sauté for 5 minutes. Season with Old Bay seasoning,salt and pepper, then add water or chicken broth, clam juice and potatoes, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Add corn and peas and cook for 3 minutes. Add shrimp, clam, smoked salmon and half and half then cook for 5 minutes. Keep stirring to make sure the half and half blends well with the soup. Discard bay leaf and thyme. Readjust seasoning. Serve topped with green onions and a dash or two of tabasco and maybe a big slice of crusty bread.

Here's another picture just for the heck of it.



Hope you like it! Hello!!! are you still there?