Seafood chowder

This is Mama Shuffler’s recipe for seafood chowder. I’ll let her do the talking:

This recipe is pretty free-flowing.  Much of what goes into it depends on what fish I have in the fridge or freezer.  I don’t use smoked fish only because I find the smoked fish dominates the flavour.

Ingredients:

1 package cream of potato soup mix (I like Knorr)

2 medium-sized potatoes

1 medium-sized onion

1 Tbsp. olive oil

2 fillets of sole

15 large shrimp

250 grams small scallops

1 can (284 grams) clams

1 cup frozen corn

Instructions:

In a large saucepan, make up the potato soup mix according to the package directions.  Keep warm.

Dice the potatoes into bite-sized pieces.

In another saucepan, saute onions in olive oil.  When the onions are translucent, add 1 cup of boiling water and the diced potatoes.  DO NOT add any salt to the potatoes  — there is lots in the potato soup mixture.  Cook the potatoes until almost done.  In the last 5 minutes of cooking, add any of the fresh fish.  When the fish is cooked through (about 4 or 5 minutes) add the potato/fish mixture to the potato soup.  The secret of any fish dish is not to over cook the fish.  Just cook it until the shiny look is gone.  If you are using large shrimp or scallops, you may have to add them to the potatoes a little sooner than you add the other fish.

Add the corn or other vegetables to the saucepan.  Don’t allow the mixture to boil again.  Just make certain that the vegetables are warmed through.

Serve immediately.

You don’t have to use the specific fish that I used.  Use any white fish that you fancy.  You can also use as much or as little of any or all of the following:

oysters

mussels

salmon

crab

lobster

You can also add other vegetables like peas or cooked carrots.