Recipe: Fish Chowder

The other day I made fish for supper.  I tried a recipe new to me and lets just say no one really liked it so I put it back in the fridge.  I later got to thinking...there must be something I can do about that fish, otherwise I'd might as well toss it.

Fish Chowder!  That was my solution, why not give fish chowder a chance?

I found a recipe.   I made a couple of modifications based on other recipes I looked at.  This recipe seemed the most affordable to make though and didn't require any odd ingredients.

Ingredients

1 tbsp (15 mL) butter

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 bay leaf

1 tsp (5 mL) dried dill or dried thyme

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and diced

2 cups (500 mL) water or fish stock  (I used chicken broth)

1/3 cup (80 mL) all-purpose flour

3 cups (750 mL) Milk

2 cups (500 mL) chopped raw skinless fish fillets or cooked seafood (shrimp, lobster, scallops, crab, clams, oysters) or a combination

2 tbsp (30 mL) freshly squeezed lemon juice

Whole grain crackers, crumbled

Changes I made to the recipe

• I added 1 tsp parsley
•  instead of butter I cooked up some pancetta and used the grease from that instead.  :)  The pancetta will be added to another dish later on.
• Oh.. and I had some whipping cream leftover from something else so I used that and topped it up with milk to the 3 cup mark.
• the seafood I used was the leftover trout from the night before
• I didn't use the whole grain crackers as I don't like crackers in my soups or chowders.

Directions:

In a large pot, melt butter over medium heat; sauté celery, onion, bay leaf, dill, 1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt and 1/4 tsp (1 mL) pepper for about 5 min or until onions start to brown. Stir in potatoes; sauté for 2 min.
Increase heat to medium-high; stir in water and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium and boil for about 5 min or until potatoes are almost tender.
Whisk flour into milk and stir into pot; bring to a simmer, stirring often. Stir in fish or seafood; simmer, stirring often for 5 min or until fish is opaque and flakes easily with a fork or seafood is hot. Discard bay leaf. Stir in lemon juice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and top each serving with crumbled crackers.

Family Results:
My son's thoughts who is reticent about anything new, MOM!  It's edible!   Save some for me for later okay?"
My thoughts: I've only ever had Campbell's clam chowder...(which I like) so I wasn't sure what to expect.  I approached this with skepticism and was pleasantly surprised.  I liked it.  :)  Easy to make.