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So here in KC, the weather was surprisingly warm in February, and now in March – it’s cold again. That stupid groundhog. It snowed all day last Saturday and today high of 30! Ack. When its cold like this, I crave a big bowl of comforting soup. SOOOUUUPP! I wanted to try a new recipe and found one for corn, potato & shrimp chowder. The recipe I saw was a bit too simple for me – but it needed more of a punch with herbs, spices & additional ingredients. So I added a bunch of flare and made it my own. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did. I really was impressed. It is one of the best soups I’ve ever made & puts some restaurant soups to shame. Of course I’m biased, but really – it’s good.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb peeled and deveined shrimp (I prefer raw but you can buy pre-cooked – just aren’t as flavorful when you can season/cook yourself)
- 8 medium size yukon gold potatoes
- 1 can corn (15 oz approx)
- 1 can white clam sauce (10 oz approx) – can use clam juice but I prefer white clam sauce
- 4 strips cooked bacon cut into small crumbles/pieces
- 2 leeks – cleaned and chopped into small pieces (1/2 inch)
- 1 fennel bulb – cleaned and chopped into small pieces (approx 1/2 inch)
- 3 cups milk
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 3 tbsp flour
- 2 tbsp oil
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp dried thyme leaves
- 2 tsp old bay seasoning (divided)
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 3 cloves garlic chopped (or about 1 tbsp pre-chopped/prepared garlic)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
- plenty of salt & pepper
- Bread (optional) for serving
Directions:
- Bring 2 tbsp of olive oil to medium high heat in a dutch oven/soup pot
- Pat shrimp dry w/ paper towel – place into oil in pan
- Sprinkle 2 pinches of salt, 2 pinches of pepper and 1 tsp old bay seasoning onto shrimp
- Cook shrimp until just curling and pink and firming up, do not overcook – they will continue to cook once you put them in the soup a bit
- When shrimp are done – set on plate w/ paper towel to rest
- In same pot, melt 3 tbsp butter
- Add fennel, leeks, cayenne, thyme other tsp of old bay, and garlic
- Sautee until vegetables are very soft – about 7-8 minutes
- While vegetables are cooking, cut potatoes into 1 inch cubes (you can do this earlier, but you’ll need to place them in a bowl of salted water so they don’t oxidize)
- Once vegetables are soft and cooked down, add flour and cook for about 1 minute.
- Add clam sauce, milk, chicken broth & potatoes
- Bring to boil
- Reduce heat, cover and simmer on medium to medium low (every stove is different) – ensure pot is actually simmering, but not boiling. Stir about every 4 minutes
- Simmer/cook for about 20 minutes – until potatoes are soft
- Once potatoes are soft – add in corn, bacon and shrimp. Turn heat to medium (if not already there) and leave for 5 minutes. Stirring occasionally.
- Add in parsley and lemon juice.
- Stir well and serve HOT (with bread as you choose).
**Reheating tip: We remove the shrimp (if we don’t eat them all) and store them separately from the soup in the fridge. When reheating the soup on the stove or microwave…heat thoroughly, then add in shrimp and heat for maybe 30 seconds to a minute – so the shrimp don’t get rubbery and overcooked during reheating.
