Low Country Boil Chowder

As I told you in my last post, we had lots of leftovers from our Birthday "Stone Soup" seafood boil on Saturday. We figured the best way to finish them up is to create a giant soup that used all that we had left. As promised, here's the recipe!




Low Country Boil Chowder

6-7 slices bacon, cut in tiny pieces
1 med. onion, chopped
1 c. diced celery
4 c. diced potatoes, cooked
1 ½ c. seafood stock (see below)
3 c. milk, warmed
1 (16 oz.) can whole kernel corn, or 4-5 corn scraped from the cob
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper (or more to taste)
1 tbsp. butter
Clams, oysters, crawfish, mussels, shrimp left over from the boil (or fresh, cooked – as much as you want)

STOCK: Place all crab shells (or shrimp, oyster, clam, etc) in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 20 minutes or so. Strain broth through cheesecloth and discard shells.

In a large heavy saucepan fry bacon until crisp. Remove bacon and drain on paper towel. Pour off fat except for 2 tablespoons. Add onions to saucepan and saute until transparent, not brown. Add potatoes, celery and stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat. Cover pan and simmer for 10 minutes or until celery is tender. Add remaining ingredients and heat just to boiling. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for at least an hour. The longer it simmers, the better the flavors mix.

If you need to thicken the chowder, I mixed 2 tbsps butter and 2 tbsps flour, added stock until I had a thick mix, and added it to the soup. While cooking, it will thicken.

Enjoy!!