Seafood Chowder

Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe. This is not the usual, thick, gloppy chowder since you are on ZReduction, but it will pass as a fancy, flavorful meal. It’s a bit on the zippy side so if you don’t like a bit of zing, calm down the cayenne or eliminate it.

Servings: Serves 3. Each serving is 1-1/2 cups.

Ingredients:

  • ½ onion, diced (yellow or white)
  • 1 stalk of celery, diced
  • ¼ tsp of cayenne (or less to taste)
  • ½ tsp of curry powder *
  • 1 quart of fish stock
  • 1 Tbl of cornstarch mixed with 2 Tbl of water (put in a small bowl)
  • 2 cups of green beans (frozen or fresh, cut bite sized)
  • ¼ lb of crab (I used lump white.  For less expense you can even use canned)
  • ¼ lb of scallops (I used the sea scallops and cut them into quarters.  This was only two large scallops)
  • ¼ lb of shrimp (I used larger ones and cut them into bites but you can use whatever size you want)
  • ½ cup of whipping cream, heated gently

Instructions:

Spray a small soup pot with olive oil spray. Add the onion and celery and cook until loosened. Add cayenne and curry powder and stir. Add the fish stock and the beans. Bring to a boil and then turn down to simmer for 10 minutes.

Add your corn starch slurry. This will help give the sauce some body. Stir. Add the seafood elements. Continue to cook on medium for another ten minutes to cook the seafood and continue to reduce the sauce a bit.

Preheat your cream and add it. Take off heat and stir. Let set for 2 minutes. Serve.

Serving size 1-1/2 cups. This will eliminate part of your veggie portion. I’d fill this out with a salad with cherry tomatoes and cucumbers and you’ll have your full meal. You can still have your breadstick portion, too.

*You can make this in different flavors if you don’t like curry.  Instead of curry you can add Old Bay Seasoning. That’s the traditional, Maryland version. You can eliminate the curry and use Italian Seasoning and make an Italian version. The Italians traditionally serve seafood as a good luck gesture. They do it on Christmas Eve so if you are on ZReduction on Christmas Eve you can actually make a big batch of this and serve it to everyone. This is a great dish any time of year and is good enough for company!

Enjoy!

Cheers,