Fish Chowder
There are many different versions of fish chowder and fish stew. While most chowders are made with seafood and potatoes, some recipes call for tomatoes or tomato paste and some just use heavy cream. This recipe uses a quick, easy roux to make an extra creamy and tasty chowder. The good news is that, no matter which version you choose to make, it’s going to be fresh, delicious and healthy!
As usual, this recipe is easy to make over a campfire, at home, on the grill or tailgating. I can’t say that I have a favorite fish for this recipe, but pike, catfish and lake trout rate high on the list. Now go outside, catch some fish and make this recipe!
Hey everybody Jimmy Kennedy here with Go Out{side} and my daughter June-bug. You guys should be getting to know by now. We get to cook and fish alot. We love it. Wouldn’t have it any other way. We’re at home today. On the breeo. And I thawed out some pike that we caught ice fishing. And we’re going to show you how to make a super easy chowder.
This stuff is so good. It’s loaded with veggies. And loaded with flavor too, it is excellent. There’s a lot of different ways to do a chowder. Some people put tomato paste some people pour cream or milk right into the chowder. But I like to make a little sauce, like a bechamel sauce or cream sauce, little butter flour, and put the cream in that and put the veggies in the broth.
I’ll show you that. We’ll get those nice and tender. Then we had the cream sauce to it. Okay, everybody. I’ll show you guys the start this little sweet process here. We have a lot of veggies. I went a little heavy today. Usually it’s a cup of each but we kind of went crazy. We got some fish stock we made from the pike bones and all you want to do with that is
Just put the bones in there and not the skin. Just the bones. A little bit of the meat from the bones, bare bones, whatever. And boil it down. Add a little salt and pepper and that’s all you need in that for the fish stock. You don’t need a whole lot of celery and onion. You can do it if you want.
But the fish bones and some salt and pepper are good enough for that. And I got about six cups of that. Of the fish stock, and we’ll have the whole recipe for you.
I’m just going to put the veggies right in that. What we want to do is to let these cook in the broth. They get nice and tender. They’re going to be so tasty. Trust me on that. And in the meantime, while these are tendering up, we’re going to make our cream sauce, have three tablespoons of butter and three tablespoons of flour.
You always want to have equal parts of fat to flour that’s going to make a make our roux start of a little cream sauce What you want to do is stir this up here so it’s nice and smooth Hey, folks, we got our veggies nice and tender. Just put the fish in there. And again, this is pike. You can use anything you want.
You can use trout, catfish, saltwater fish, anything. We had this, and it’s kind of what we we meant to do. Catch pike ice fishing we’ll freeze it and then we have several bags in there, and we just enjoy it all. All spring and summer. Now, this takes only about 5 minutes worth of fish. And our roux up here is nice and hot.
We’re just going to slowly add that. Going to make sure that’s nice and stir it up it’s thickened up nicely.
This makes a lot to I mean, it is it’s only six cups of broth, about a pound of fish cup or two each on the veggies, a little bit of butter three cups of milk. So quick. I mean, how long have we been doing this now? Five. Yeah, five or 10 minutes. It’s quick. This stuff is looking good, and you don’t have to make the roux.
Like I said in the beginning, you can just add cream right to the end, but it gives it gives it a little more flavor, and it thickens it up nicely, too. I like it like that. And don’t be afraid to go overboard on the veggies. Add as much as you want as much fish I mean, at this point, the pike is practically done.
You could throw in some shrimp now or some yellow perch or anything you got. And this is so delicious. It’s really great. Grill some bread on top up here. Eat this stuff. Any time, anywhere. You’re going to love it. It’s a ten minute, fifteen minute recipe. It can’t be beat. You could top it with cheese, parsley, tomatoes. That’s what I like to do instead of adding tomato paste.
I just like to use it. Tomatoes as a garnish is a great way to eat this stuff. You ready for some? All right.
Ingredients:
1 quart fish stock or broth
1 cup onion, diced
1 cup carrots, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup bell pepper (any color), diced
1/3 cup salted butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
2 to 3 cups of your favorite fish, cut into 1-inch cubes
Salt and black pepper, to taste
Paprika, to taste
Diced tomatoes, parsley, cheddar or croutons (for garnish)
Directions:
- Combine stock or broth and diced vegetables in a large pot; bring to a simmer and cook until vegetables just start to get a little tender.
- While the vegetables are simmering, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. When it is completely melted and hot, add the flour a little at a time and cook for a few minutes, whisking constantly, until it is smooth and golden.
- With the sauce still on low heat, slowly add the milk a little at a time while continuing to whisk until it starts to simmer and has thickened. If the vegetables are tender, go ahead and add the sauce to the pot with the vegetables and stir or whisk until the sauce has been fully incorporated.
- Add the fish and cook until it starts to become opaque and tender.
Serve in bowls with your preferred garnish along with some grilled or toasted bread.
Yield: 8 to 10 servings
Prep time: 15 to 20 minutes
Cook time: 10 to 15 minutes
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