Disclaimer: I am a left coaster, and have spent a total of, perhaps, 3 weeks of my life east of the Mississippi (within North America anyway), and not more than 3 days in New England. Not necessarily my choice, but just the way things have turned out. So, all you East Coasters, don't give me a hard time. This was what I made for dinner tonight, and it was pretty good.
I diced a strip or two of bacon, and let it slowly fry while I fixed the veggies. Then I added some diced onion, as well as diced potato, diced carrot, diced celery, diced parsnip (because I had one in the fridge); I would have used some diced celery root instead of the celery stalk had I had any. I let them slowly fry together for a few minutes, and then added some liquid. Now, I didn't have any clams on hand, so I was making a shrimp chowder. I defrosted the frozen shrimp, and de-shelled them; put the shrimp aside, and put the shells in a small saucepan with a bit of water. Let them boil up, till the shells were pink and the water was *shrimpy*. In the meantime I poured some boiling water over a small handful of dried sweet corn (that I had dried last summer), and let it re-hydrate. So, the liquid I added was the shrimp stock, plus the re-hydrated corn + liquid. I let everything simmer, covered, for 15-20 minutes till it was all tender, and then added some milk and cream (1/2 and 1/2 had I had any). The shrimp were fairly large (large shrimp? An oxymoron if ever I heard one
), so I cut them in pieces, and added them to the pot about 3 minutes before serving. During the process I had seasoned with pepper, a bit of salt, some herbs.
As you like it? Veggies can be changed to your taste (though the combination of root veggies is very good). Seafood can be changed; I was thinking of using salmon, but then decided on shrimp. Cod might be nice. (And, of course, clams are always good). Or no seafood at all, and just veggies. More corn, and fresh if it is the right season. Could even leave out the bacon, were you so inclined, and use butter or olive oil.
So, unless your Boston Grandmama insists otherwise, you might give this a try; it was quite tasty.
I diced a strip or two of bacon, and let it slowly fry while I fixed the veggies. Then I added some diced onion, as well as diced potato, diced carrot, diced celery, diced parsnip (because I had one in the fridge); I would have used some diced celery root instead of the celery stalk had I had any. I let them slowly fry together for a few minutes, and then added some liquid. Now, I didn't have any clams on hand, so I was making a shrimp chowder. I defrosted the frozen shrimp, and de-shelled them; put the shrimp aside, and put the shells in a small saucepan with a bit of water. Let them boil up, till the shells were pink and the water was *shrimpy*. In the meantime I poured some boiling water over a small handful of dried sweet corn (that I had dried last summer), and let it re-hydrate. So, the liquid I added was the shrimp stock, plus the re-hydrated corn + liquid. I let everything simmer, covered, for 15-20 minutes till it was all tender, and then added some milk and cream (1/2 and 1/2 had I had any). The shrimp were fairly large (large shrimp? An oxymoron if ever I heard one
), so I cut them in pieces, and added them to the pot about 3 minutes before serving. During the process I had seasoned with pepper, a bit of salt, some herbs.As you like it? Veggies can be changed to your taste (though the combination of root veggies is very good). Seafood can be changed; I was thinking of using salmon, but then decided on shrimp. Cod might be nice. (And, of course, clams are always good
). Or no seafood at all, and just veggies. More corn, and fresh if it is the right season. Could even leave out the bacon, were you so inclined, and use butter or olive oil.So, unless your Boston Grandmama insists otherwise, you might give this a try; it was quite tasty.
