I totally made this up. I hope I can recreate it. Jeeps has a charming expression for this kind of cuisine...let's jut say he wants me to publish a cookbook called, From My Ass to Your Table.
Har har.
This dish came to be because last time I was in the frozen food aisle of Trader Joe's, I remembered to get roasted sweet corn, and then I saw langoustines.
Gesundheit.
Langoustines are crustaceans that looks like tiny lobsters. I put a bag in my cart thinking something interesting could be done with them and the corn, and also because I'd seen an interesting recipe with langoustines on Stacey Snacks. Or maybe I'd dreamed that because when I went back to her site and searched, I couldn't find what I thought I'd seen.
Don't you hate that?
So I had frozen langoustines. I had frozen roughy. I had frozen shrimp. I had frozen scallops. And I had a hot husband asking for soup. Thus was born:
Corn and Seafood Chowder
I defrosted all the seafood in the fridge during the day, then drained it and cut the roughy into chunks. Besides these assorted fruits de mer of your choice, you will need:
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- 1/2 red bell pepper, diced (the other half from when you made Hoppin' John)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
- Pinch saffron threads
- Dill (fresh or dried), and paprika
- Frozen corn (Hoppin' John left me with half a bag so I used that)
- Milk and half-and-half, or heavy cream
- Bottled clam juice (which I did not have although I made a desperate run to our local specialty deli in the hopes she would have it. She didn't, and don't get me started on there not being any good place around here where one can dash to get out-of-the-ordinary items, it's a post for another day)
Prep and dice all the veggies. In your soup pot (I used Madame LeCreuset), get some olive oil and a pat of butter going. Add the onion, carrot and celery first, saute 5 minutes, then add the garlic, pepper and potatoes. Saute another 5 minutes, then add water to just cover (about 2 cups). Add pinch of saffron threads.
Cover and simmer about 20 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Add roughy, shrimp, langoustines, and scallops.
Sprinkle seafood with dill and paprika, cover again and simmer at least another 5 minutes, until fish flakes and shrimp are opaque.
Add the corn, 1/2 cup cream, 1/2 cup milk, 2 tablespoons sherry and stir. The clam juice would've come in here if I'd had it. I tasted and fiddled with the salt to get it where I wanted it.
This was one of those recipes where at the end, I am trawling the fridge with one half of me thinking hm, maybe a splash of lime juice, or what about some halved cherry tomatoes? And the other half is yelling LEAVE IT ALONE!
I left it alone, sprinkled a little parsley, and it was pretty damn good.
Now I know what you're all thinking... OK, maybe not all of you, but I know what my friend Stacie is thinking: did my kids eat this?
(Haughty expression) Puh-leeze. I am a foodie. I am raising foodies. I encourage, nay, I insist my children expand and educate their palates and I make no concessions to picky eaters, thank you very much, what is on the table is what is being served and OH F**K NO, THEY DIDN'T EAT IT!
Yes, I made them scrambled eggs. Lame, but some nights you just want to eat your damn fish soup in peace. And when Redman patted my arm and said happily, "Mom, you make the best dinners," well, you see my point.
Pandagirl at least tried a few spoonfuls and admitted it didn't suck. There's hope.