Anyone for oyster chowder? I’ve been trying to finish my post about my Edinburgh trip, but it wants to take its time, and what with Christmas preparations and a festive event or two (an elementary school concert — such a treat!), that’s at a premium.
And I had such a craving for oyster chowder the other day — when I happened to have two loaves of sourdough fresh out of the oven — that I thought perhaps that might strike you as well. If you’re not a fan of oysters, this is easily modified to become a seafood chowder (canned or fresh clams, shrimp, fish fillets cut into bite-sized pieces). In fact, it’s more suggestion/process than an actual recipe — if you’d like something more precise, Leslie at Bungalow Hostess posted her clam chowder recipe on Instagram here (when you get to that post, you’ll need to swipe left).
Okay, here goes:
Melt 2 or 3 tablespoons of butter and add
1 large chopped onion
chopped celery — 2 or 3 stalks OR chopped fennel bulb
1 large carrot, chopped
2 medium potatoes, chopped/diced
(If I’d had one in the fridge, I might have added a sweet pepper, either green or red)
Add salt (a good pinch?)
Keeping the heat at low-medium, and checking/stirring occasionally (you don’t want anything to brown), let the vegetables “sweat” for five to ten minutes until the onions are translucent.
Add thyme to taste (1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon works for us) roughly as much flour as the measure of butter you began with — if 2 tablespoons butter, sprinkle two tbsps. flour over the vegetables, and stir it in so it’s smooth, give it a minute or so to cook before adding in (You could skip this step, not bother adding flour, but I like the thickening, velvety effect it has on the broth
–a cup or so of white wine — if you have it leftover from an earlier meal OR if you are opening a bottle to drink with your chowder later. The chowder will be good without any wine, but it deepens the flavour if you have it.
Next I add
— a bottle or can of clam juice (250 ml or 8 ounces) — again, if you don’t have this, don’t worry about it, but it does make the flavour more complex
— chicken stock — I added about 250 ml/1 cup, but add more if you don’t add white wine or clam juice
Add a bay leaf, if you have one. . .
Stir gently as this mixture heats and thickens — when it reaches boiling point, turn down and keep at a gentle simmer until the vegetables are tender, if they weren’t already from the “sweat.
Add 2 cups of milk (I use 2%, and we find that rich enough, but you could use full-fat, even add a portion of cream for a more luxurious version) — adding a small amount of the hot liquid to your milk to temper it will help prevent curdling
And the
Oysters — 16 ounces/500 millilitres (2 cups/1/2 litre) fresh, raw oysters in their juice. . .
Gently bring milk and oysters just barely to boiling point and simmer until oysters are cooked through.
Season to preference with salt and pepper
Serve with crusty white bread and a glass of the chilled wine . . .
This makes enough to serve two couples, for an easy entertaining evening — you bump into old friends while Christmas shopping and invite them over for a simple, satisfying dinner. . .
Or just you, for an elegant solo meal with several delicious lunches over the next few days. When I reheat it, I bring it gently to just below boiling in a saucepan — the oysters suffer from microwaving, imho, or from too many seconds at the boil.
Let me know if you try this and/or if you have a version of your own and have suggestions for tweaks I could make in mine.
Or share any simple comfort food you enjoy making during these shorter days. . . Or tell me whether you have recipes like this, that change every time you make them, or do you prefer the precision of a cookbook.. .
Off to a bookstore this morning, a new favourite for me, an independent small store sure to be crowded with other likeminded souls intent on choosing the perfect book-gifts.
Aw,lovely and yummy!I'll try it with scampi or something-I love oysters,but they are difficult to find really fresh (except in Ston :-),or Bota Sare restaurant here-they have one,original one, in Ston and the third one in Dubrovnik,so, all their fish,oysters and seafood is super fresh
We are going to have Christmas Eve lunch at Fotic and for dinner I'm going to cook fettuccini verde with gambers ( you have my recipe somewhere in Croatian cuisine)
I always improvise with all dishes except cookies and cakes-here I follow the recipe from word to word
Comfort food? We had Sarma last weekend!
I noticed that we in central and eastern Europe have a lot of different Christmas tea cakes. My mother,my cousin and I,as a team, baked them last Sunday
Dottoressa
I like so much being able to picture your lunch in Fotic — happily remembering our lunches there! And also having the recipes — and having got to sample! — the dishes you mentioned (mmmm, sarma!)
It sounds delicious. I think my favorite comfort food, though, is chili. I like spice. Or else irio, a Kenyan dish of mashed potatoes with maize, beans and collard greens, which turn it a brilliant green. You eat it with your fingers, because the feel of the food is just as important as the taste, smell and appearance.
Do tell us which books you bought!
I like spice as well, and no question that chili is a comfort food for me! I don't know anything about Kenyan cuisine, but we ate Ethiopian for the first time the other night — so fortunate to have a great little Ethiopian place only a short walk from here.
I can't say anything about the books for now — they're all gifts 😉
Although not a fan of oysters, this sounds like a delicious suggestion for a seafood soup, perhaps with prawns and salmon. Soup is definitely comforting on these wet and windy evenings. Last night I made a gingery, garlic, chicken soup with greens and carrots, with a hint of red curry paste. So warming!
I enjoyed your outfits on your previous post. I'm finding that I'm reaching for the most comfortable clothing in my closet before heading out in the rain.
Yes, I do a similar chowder with a mix of seafood rather than the oysters — some smoked salmon adds a lovely complexity.
That ginger-garlic soup sounds magic! Just what's needed on a blustery night.
Thanks, think I will make it more a seafood chowder. I love oysters, but my husband is allergic to them. It does sound wonderful though.
Ali
It's good with oysters, but I also love it with other seafood.
My husband has a strong aversion to seafood of any kind–especially the smell. Before I retired, I traveled a great deal on business, so I used to get my 'fish fix' when I was on the road. A little more difficult to get seafood in my diet since retirement. These days I seem to be making soups and casseroles–a chicken lentil soup and chili are on regular repeat. Definitely not a precise recipe follower.
That would be tough — I'd miss seafood — it's so much a part of the local diet, living by the sea as we do.
Soups are perfect this time of year — that chicken lentil really appeals to me.
Here's the link to the lentil soup recipe: thekitchn.com/recipe-chicken-lentil-soup-214900.
When I make it, I add a generous amount of Herbes de Provence and sometimes add other veggies–good for several meals if only two of you. Would be excellent with your sourdough bread.
How thoughtful of you, Mary — thank you!
Yesterday I made a proper, slow-cooked spaghetti bolognese (ragu, really) for the first time in ages. As a non-meat eater, I had got out of the habit. It was a perfect welcome-home meal on a vile, wet day. There will be fish pie on the menu for Christmas Eve – warming and simple. Too many bells and whistles at this time of year are rather wearing, I find. I hope your chowder warmed all cockles.
I agree — the bells and whistles can fatigue as much as cheer. Judiciously spacing them between the simple pleasures, savoured slowly, is the way to go, for me at least.
And yes, it did. And mussels too 😉
I am not a soup person really. Give me a salad any time of the year. My comfort food is definitely pasta. At the moment, there is not much time for cooking while I am frantically finishing the last Christmas presents (only self made presents this year). So please excuse me as I have to rush back to the sewing machine.
We had salad last night — roast squash, pomegranate seeds, feta, and arugula. . . You could have pulled a chair up to the table.
Good luck with the gift-making. I hope you have time to enjoy the glow of finishing each gift before you give it to its happy recipient. For me, those are separate pleasures. Enjoy! And Merry Christmas!