I know, what's the point in making fish chowder if you don't like fish? Well, some of my family just really doesn't like fish, and some do. So I wanted to make a fish chowder that everyone could eat. It really turned out to be like a potato/bacon chowder with fish in it, and it was delicious! I used a few chowder recipes with my own twists. You could add cheese on top to really mask the fish if you want, but I never took it that far
Scott's Fish Chowder (for people who don't like seafood)
-1/2 pound of good, smoked bacon, cut into small pieces
-1 medium-large sized yellow onion, also cut small
-3 stalks of celery cut small
-3 carrots (going for roughly equal parts celery, onion, and carrot) cut small
-several sprigs of fresh thyme
-2 pounds of cleaned fish fillets, patted dry with paper towel, cut bite-size (I used ling, seabass, and blackfish)
-2 quarts of chicken broth/stock
-2 pounds of potatoes (any potato with a thin skin), peeled, chunked bite-size
-1-2 tablespoons butter
-pint of half and half
-3 tablespoons flour
Cooking:
-Put bacon in large soup pot (at least 4 qt.), med-high heat until it shrinks and starts getting brown and crispy. Leave bacon in pot, and drain off MOST of the bacon grease, leaving enough to cook veggies.
-Add celery, carrots, and onion to pot. Sautee until all veggies start to soften, but aren't fully cooked. Add salt and a good amount of cracked black pepper.
-add potatoes, stir for a minute, then add chicken broth
-stir until broth just starts to boil, then lower heat to medium. if it starts to boil more, lower the heat a tiny bit. (you want a simmer, like a pasta sauce. not a rolling boil like pasta.)
-add sprigs of thyme. I put them in whole for about 2 minutes, then took them out and stripped the tiny leaves off the sprigs, putting the "leaves" in the soup and throwing the stems away.
-now in seperate container, microwave butter for 30-40 seconds until melted. Add flour and stir thoroughly. Add a tablespoon of half and half to thin it a bit. have this on the side.
-Test potatoes for doneness. When they are JUST shy of being fully soft and done, add fish.
-fish should cook in about 2 minutes. so after 2 minutes, add about half of the pint of half and half, and all of the flour/butter mixture. Stir slowly and gently. If you want it creamier, add more half and half. If you want it thicker, add more flour and stir gently.
When everything's fully stirred and incorporated, serve it. Add salt and pepper to taste before serving. And of course take a test spoonful with a piece of fish and potato to make sure both are done. They should be. If you like fish/seafood, use clam juice and fish stock in place of the chicken stock.
