#SEAmeChowder
1kg any seafood you can get your hands on. I used 500g green prawns, 1 fillet mulloway and 2 cooked crabs.
zest of 1 lemon
2tbs olive oil
A Small Handful each of dill, parsley, and chives
2 brown onions, finely diced
3 sticks celery, thinly sliced
4 small carrots (or 2 medium), halved and thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1L chicken stock
3 bay leaves
1 tsp black peppercorns
150g bacon
80g butter, chopped
1 tsp ground white pepper
2tsp plain flour
1/2 cup (125ml) white wine
3 potatoes, peeled and chopped
200ml thickened cream
pinch of turmeric
To prepare the seafood, peel or remove the skin or shell from the seafood you’ve chosen. Keeping all the shells and skin in a large stockpot for the #scrapstock. Transfer the prepared seafood to a bowl and combine with the zest, oil and a small handful of the chopped herbs. Chill to marinate until required.
Prep the veg for the chowder, transferring any offcuts to the #scrapstock. Including onion, potato and garlic peels, carrot tops, celery leaves, herbs stems, etc. Add stock, bay leaves, peppercorns and 2L of water to #scrapstock and place over high heat. Bring to the boil. then cook for a further 10 minutes to infuse the flavours. Strain you should get 2.25 litres of stock (otherwise top up with water)
Place butter, bacon, onion, celery, carrot, garlic and pepper in a saucepan. and cook for 10 minutes or until softened slightly. Add flour and cook for 2-3 minutes or until sticking to the saucepan. Add wine and cook, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon, for 3 minutes or until reduced by half. Add stock and bring mixture to the boil. Cook for a further 20 minutes or until potatoes have softened. Use a stick blender to puree roughly and reach the consistency you like. Stir through cream and turmeric return to a simmer and reduce for a further 15 minutes or until to the thickness you like. Stand until ready to serve.
When ready to eat, bring chowder sauce to a simmer, add marinated seafood and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until seafood is just cooked through. Stir through herbs and season to taste. Divide between bowls and drizzle with extra cream to serve.