New England Seafood Chowder - Lunch Nov. 3rd

Saturday is the best day to go to the Mercado for fresh seafood & veggies.  Ed ran over this morning to shop.  We had sea bass the other night at dinner and it was great.  Now we know what to ask for at the fish vendor.  In Cuenca it's called corvina.

Ed look at all the vendors before selecting the perfect piece of sea bass.  He selected a kilo (2.2 pounds) of the fish and the total was $5.  I was able to get 6 perfect sea bass steaks of the one piece.

They sell tiny little neck clams in a long bag (2 dozen) for $1 each.  Ed picked up three bags because half will go into the chowder but we also love steam clams in butter.  Ed's next mission was the perfect large shrimp and he found the vendor that we usually buy from but didn't have what he thought looked good enough.  Ed found another vendor and bought a kilo of very large shrimp for $9 - that's $4.50 for a little more than a pound. 

Ed also picked up some baby potatoes, onions and celery.  Now, he had everything we needed for lunch.


New England Seafood Chowder

3 strips of lean bacon - diced
1 large white sweet onion - diced
1/2 cup of celery - diced
2 cups of potatoes - peeled & diced
2 cups of fish stock * See Ed's secret for this 
1 cup of heavy cream
1/2  pound of boneless white fish - diced = I used sea bass
1/2 cup of cooked clam meats - you can chop but I left whole
1/2 cup of cooked shrimp - into bite size pieces
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper - or to taste
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon minced chives = for garnish - we didn't have any

* We could not find any bottled clam juice or any fish stock.  So, Ed took all the raw shrimp shells (for the kilo of shrimp) and then boiled them for several minutes.  Then, we strained this broth and used it in the chowder.... 

1.  Brown the sliced bacon in a deep, heavy-bottom sauce pan until crisp.  Remove it with a slotted spoon and set aside.

2.  Saute the diced onions & celery in the bacon fat in the same pot until the onion is translucent.

3,  Add the diced potatoes (raw) into the onions & celery and saute for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Do NOT brown. 

4.  Add "fish stock" and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are fork tender - about 10 minutes (do not over cook or them will become mush)

5. Add cut up raw fish and simmer for about 5 minutes

6.  Add cream, cooked bacon and adjust seasonings

7.  Add cooked clams and cooked shrimp and heat through - do NOT boil.

Sit back and enjoy a wonderful bowl of CHOWDER!

 
A very happy camper with a full tummy....
Peggy