Seafood Chowder

Man, Oh, Man!

If you like seafood, you'll love this chowder. It is simply delicious! I made this for the first time several years ago so I couldn't tell you where I got the recipe. Once you make the base for the chowder, you can make so many other foods!

Here's what you'll need:
Large pot
Whisk
All-purpose flour
Butter
White onion
White pepper
Salt
Paprika
Milk
Heavy Whipping Cream
Seafood (approx. 2lbs shrimp, 1lb crab)
Potatoes

Directions:
In a large pot, melt 5-6tbsp butter. Once the butter is melted, add 1 small white onion, diced and let it sweat for a few minutes adding a pinch of salt. Once the onion starts to get soft, add 5-6tbsp flour and let it cook for about 1 minute. Don't let it brown. (By adding the flour to the onion/butter mixture, I don't get lumps!!!)

Now whisk in 1pint heavy whipping cream or heavy cream. I honestly don't know what the differences are and have used both. It comes out tasting the same. After that is warmed through, add about 6cups milk. I wouldn't use 0% here. I'd use at least a 2% milk to make sure it is nice and thick/creamy. If you like whole milk, it's just going to be that much richer! (which is good, by the way). Add about 2tsp salt and 2tsp white pepper. I promise, you'll probably add more of this at the end. Go ahead and 'flavor' your chowder now.

If you have potatoes that aren't cooked yet, cubed them into bite size pieces and add now. You can bring this to a simmer and then begin adding your seafood. I peeled and deveined my shrimp and then cut into bite-size pieces. Once you add those, it only takes about 5 minutes for those to cook through. If you want to add fish, I'd add a nice white, flakey fish. (I did not add fish). Then I added my lump crab meat, very careful so I didn't break it into tiny pieces. Bring that up to a boil and turn it off. I added about 1tsp paprika to the pot but you can add more or leave it out if you'd like.

If you find that your chowder is too runny, here's an easy way to thicken it (or thicken your other sauces!) Take about 3tbsp corn starch in a small bowl and add a little bit of water. Mix it until it's nice and smooth. If it's hard and lumpy, that'll be the way it sits in your pot so make sure it's smooth. I had to do this since I got a little pour-happy with my milk. Once I added it, it thickened right up!

This stuff is seriously good, and I must say, pretty healthy with the seafood. My husband loves when I make it and was very happy to see me cooking it this morning. I think he let out a few sighs since it was so good!

ENJOY!