Seafood Chowder. Aye-Aye Captain!

Seafood Chowder. Aye-aye Captain!

I’m sure I must’ve been a “salty skipper” of some sort in a past life. I grew up in a beautiful coastal town in NSW (Shoal Bay). Nowadays, living close to a city, I am always drawn to the sea whenever we’re due for R&R. But in between holiday jaunts I'll bring the ocean home with this seafood chowder. It satisfies the pang of yearning for the sea every time. Guaranteed.

Whilst we enjoy eating only animal protein most days, during winter, on a squally-like day, my taste buds yearn for this dish. The flavours make me feel safe, cosy, nourished and calm. I feel like I’m back in my childhood home - which, to be honest, is weird. Because we never ate this dish whilst growing up! It was Vegemite toast or sandwiches, Milo and Wheetbix. The extent of my fine dining experiences as a kid comprised hot meat pies from the school canteen every Friday - a rare treat, or if mum and dad had a successful punt on Melbourne Cup day, it was a Henny Penny takeaway celebratory feast for dinner! (the KFC equivalent). Nothing quite as romantic as a seafood chowder. It leaves me with the conclusion that the magnificence of my childhood seascape - where we danced and played freely, breathing in the sea air, day in, day out, has taught me in my adult life to cherish anything of a nautical theme, whether it be food or decor.  Not to mention watching re-runs of The Ghost and Mrs Muir!

Our version of seafood chowder is packed with goodies. But we’ve ditched the traditional spuds and replaced them with cauliflower so as to avoid the super starchy stodge factor. Rest assured you still get to enjoy the creamy comforting texture and flavour - free of the epic carb hit.

This recipe amply feeds our family of 3 with leftovers to be enjoyed for a good couple of days. 

Stuff you will need:

One large stove-top stock pot with a lid (should be big enough to hold at least about 5 litres). 

Large cutting board

Medium sized sharp cutting knife

Electric hand held stick mixer 

Ingredients (if your budget allows, invest in organic produce)

50g of grass fed butter

2 heaped tablespoons of thickened cream

Greek Yoghurt (1 blob per served portion) 

1 large brown onion - finely diced

2 litres of fish broth *(recipe below) (you could also use chicken broth or vegetable stock)

Approx 1 litre of filtered water

2 cauliflower heads, leaves and stems removed. Florets roughly chopped.

2 large fennels - stems and leaves removed and finely diced 

2 white fish fillets (we used red snapper), check the bones are removed and then chop into even sized chunks

2 dozen peeled green prawns (Australian) 

Nitrate free bacon - full rashers. The rashers we buy are quite thin - cut more like prosciutto slices (one rasher per person) rinds removed and chopped (see pic)

Dried smoked paprika (or if you prefer, dried ground fennel seeds)

Quality salt and pepper.

NB we also wanted to add fresh mussels to this recipe but the fishmonger was sold out! BUGGER.

How to:

Melt the butter in the pot and then add the diced onion. Saute until the onion is translucent.

Add the diced fennels and saute until soft. Add in a good pinch of salt and pepper.

Throw in the cauliflower florets and then pour in the fish broth. Add the filtered water until it is just covering the cauliflower. Turn up the heat and bring to the boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer, pop on the lid and leave to cook for 10 to 15 mins or until the cauliflower is very soft. 

Once the cauliflower is soft, reduce the heat to low and use the stick mixer to blend all the ingredients until it becomes a soupy consistency - thick and creamy.

Cease mixing for a moment and add in the cream. Resume stick blending until the cream is combined into the soup. Now have a little taste and season to taste using more salt, pepper and a good sprinkling of smoked paprika (or the ground fennel). 

Using a small pan, start to fry the bacon until golden brown and/or crispy. Then leave in the pan (in the rendered fat) and set aside. 

When you’re happy with the soup’s flavour and the texture is lovely and creamy, bring the heat up a little - just below medium, and throw in the seafood. This should only take about 5 to 10 minutes to cook. 

Whilst you’re waiting for the seafood to cook in the soup, have bowls out ready to serve up the soup, including the Yoghurt, on standby.

Once the seafood is cooked in the soup, gently serve the soup into each bowl. Dollop the Greek Yoghurt into the middle of the soup bowl, sprinkle the bacon bits over the yoghurt and drizzle the rendered bacon fat around the soup… and then add a final sprinkle of smoked paprika. 

YUM, YUM, CHOWDER BUM!

Please feel free to leave a comment below. I would love to know how you go! 

Simple Fish Broth recipe

A little tip about preparing your fish frames: Don't do it yourself. Ask your fishmonger to split the fish heads in half and cut the frames into 3 chunks, removing all unwanted innards. You may have to wait 5 or so minutes but it will save you a lot of time and frustration back home in your kitchen (especially if you do not have very sharp knives).

Ingredients:

60g of grass fed butter  

3 medium sized fish frames (including the heads); we used Gold Band Snapper

Fresh sprigs of rosemary (3)

4 litres boiled,filtered water - enough to fill your pot. 

How to:

Melt the butter in a large stockpot on the stove top.

Throw in the frames and pop on the lid. This “sweats” them for about 5 to 10 mins so as to extract as much flavour as possible.

Now pour in the filtered water to cover the frames (I fill the pot) and fresh rosemary. Once the broth is boiling reduce to a low simmer and leave to simmer for 2 hours.

Time to strain:

To get a silky, smooth and golden broth I like to strain it twice. Twice is twice as nice!

The following prepping tips for the straining process will make the experience less messy. It will also enhance your will to live and quite possibly spark some joy because you will feel very chuffed having learned, and executed brilliantly, your new organisational skill set.  

NB: Letting the broth cool for a good hour or so is for safety. Any hot splashing onto your hands, face or arms will end in tears and scarring - trust me.

Before commencing the straining process do this: 

Clear your bench space, including the kitchen sink.  

Items you will need: 

Large colander.

Larger bowl.

Second large bowl lined with a plastic bag (eg used grocery shopping bag - no holes) - for discarded fish frames

2 or 3 glass pouring jugs (or storage jars of your choice). 

1 nut milk straining bag (a mesh bag) or more

1 large rubber band

First strain:

Sit the colander in the larger bowl and place them into the sink.

Empty the contents of the stock pot into the colander/bowl. You may need to repeat this depending on the volume of the stock. If so, place the stockpot down on, empty the colander (which is probably full of frames by now) into the bowl lined with a plastic bag, return the colander to the bowl in the sink and continue to strain what's left. 

Once you've strained all the liquid from the stockpot throw the remaining frames into the bowl lined with the plastic bag. Tie up the bag and trash. Now the broth is ready to be strained a second time.

Second strain:

Remove the bowl holding the strained broth from the sink, to the side.

Stand the storage jars in the sink. 

If you have more than one nut milk straining bag - fabo. You can line each jar with them, securing them with an elastic band. I only have one which means transferring it to the next jar one at a time (less bags to wash).

Fill the jars by pouring the broth via the mesh bags. Slowly remove the bags and place the jars aside to further cool.  At this point, if the broth is intended to drink directly as a beverage, I like to flavour it with pink salt. But if intended for cooking other dishes, leave it unsalted. 

When it has cooled almost to room temp place them in the fridge, lids on. Otherwise a little gladwrap to cover will seal them nicely.