Walking through our standard local grocery store, I noted once they had a frozen bag of assorted seafood. I’m not usually good with frozen seafood. Living where we do, we have access to some pretty fresh critters from the sea. The bag did intrigue me. This is going to sound funny but we had most of a box of seafood stock and a half bag of fingerling potatoes, so I put two and two together and got Creamy Seafood Chowder.

The frozen “seafood medley” came with Calamari (which were very small), Mussels (which we picked out because they just didn’t work with this chowder), Octopus and Shrimp (literally the smallest shrimp possible, I think they disappeared when cooked). So basically the frozen seafood bag lived up to my expectations. I saved the dish with some fresh shrimp. I would make this again but use better seafood. It was really good and without the mussels, I wouldn’t complain much about the seafood medley.

Ingredients

• 32 oz Seafood Stock
• 1 cup half and half (or milk)
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (or sherry)
• Olive oil
• 2 strips of bacon, diced
• 2-3 tbsp AP flour
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1/2 large onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 24 oz fingerling potatoes, diced
• 1 tbsp Old Bay Seasoning
• 1 tbsp Creole Seasoning (Tony Chachere’s is my favorite)
• 2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 lbs fresh (or frozen) seafood mix (calamari, octopus, shrimp, crab, mussels)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat a large pot or Dutch oven to medium. Add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pot, cook seafood until almost cooked through. Remove from pot and set aside.
2. Add bacon. Render bacon and add onion, celery and carrots. Toss and cook until onions are translucent. Add garlic and cook another minute.
3. Depending on how much bacon fat is in the pot, you may need to add some olive oil. Add flour and whisk. Once the flour is integrated into the fat, cook until blonde.
4. Whisk in the sherry until combined and reduced.
5. Add 1/2 cup of seafood stock, whisking until thick. Slowly add remaining stock, whisking. Add tomato paste. Add all dry seasoning (Old Bay, Creole seasoning, cayenne pepper, paprika).
6. Increase heat and bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and add potatoes. Continue simmering until potatoes are tender.
7. Add cream and seafood. Allow to simmer until seafood is cooked through.