When I was in Tucson, Arizona over Christmas I cooked my way through a handful of recipes in a local cookbook called Savvy Southwest Cooking. The book has a lot of seafood options, despite heralding from a landlocked state. No problem, because Whole Foods and Sprouts both have excellent selections of sustainable seafood. And while I know the carbon footprint is high, my mom loves scallops. We know it’s a treat.
The other perk is that instead of the cod she’s used to at home, it’s easy to get Pacific halibut and at a decent price. So we indulge a bit. While some might say coating excellent fish in heavy spices is a shame, this recipe for chowder enhances rather than overwhelms the fish. We used almond milk instead of cream, which I admit is not as flavourful or rich (could have used coconut milk, but then everything tastes like coconut), but the texture is right. And if you throw enough giant scallops on top, you might not care about the broth as much. We didn’t have any complaints.
I can’t give the recipe for copyright reasons, but find your favourite chowder recipe, add some chipotle chile powder and a touch a chipotles in adobo sauce for the fish stock (not enough to overwhelm) and add your favourite fish, from lobster to shrimp to halibut to scallops. Poach them gently or sear them and add them at the last minute. Use Yukon gold potatoes or other creamy ones for boiling. And add a salad and some baguette (my non-gluten free dad like the Schär baguette we got at Whole Foods – I wish Canada had the baguette, but not luck so far). And maybe some white wine since you probably used it in the stock anyway, right? A little dill at the end and you’re golden.
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