Creamy Fish Chowder
Creamy Fish Chowder recipe
EatingWell: January/February 1993
Amazingly, this was pretty good. I was really trying to find cod at BJ’s but just couldn’t so I settled for tilapia. Sometimes it’s okay, sometimes not. This time it’s not. Sometimes the tilapia has a flavor I just don’t like. I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s like a musty taste. I don’t know.
Being as I used center cut bacon, I put a couple of slices in the pan. It didn’t create a lot of grease, so I just left it all in the pan. The clam juice didn’t really seem like a lot, so I added the whole bottle and about 1 1/2 cups chicken broth. That looked more like a stew. Before it looked like I was just braising the vegetables in the broth. I wanted to potatoes to be just a little al dente before I added the fish. I didn’t want to the fish to be too done. That worked out perfectly.
It would have tasted better with the cod. It would have tasted just a little better with some leeks and just a hint more bacon. I added some rosemary to the soup when it was cooking. There’s a restaurant near us that adds rosemary to their clam chowder and I think it tastes really good, so I thought I’d throw some in this recipe. It was just another layer of flavor that brought it all together. Being as I added more liquid than the recipe called for, I had to double the cornstarch and water slurry to thicken the recipe. I didn’t mash some of the vegetables to thicken it even more. If I did that, I would cook the potatoes in stages so they weren’t all mushy.
It was a pretty easy recipe to make. It was also pretty quit to put together. I will probably make it again, but with some halibut or cod. Tilapia is hit or miss with me. I’m too finicky with fish, I know.
Measuring cups and spoons
Knife
Cutting board
Large stockpot