I have always considered myself quite a nice person. I like food of all shapes, flavours and colours. From every country and continent. I don’t discriminate, I am an equal opportunity eater. It’s only the doctors who say I’m intolerant. And certain foods who refuse to tolerate me. They certainly refuse to recognise and respect my right to eat them without major physical discomfort and distress.


Gluten and lactose are not my friends.


Despite the negative attitudes surrounding me from many of those I love best, (cakes, ice cream, hot toast) I decided to become a chef. Not always easy when you live in a bread and milk filled world. I like to think that this has helped me become a better person as I embrace my differences and refuse to let the gluten get me down. I believe InTolerance. I am the InTolerant Chef.

Food should not be about what you can’t eat, but what you can and what you enjoy eating. This blog is about my journey of cooking and eating and discovery. It’s not a definitive guide to allergy awareness nor do my intolerances make me an expert. Your body is your responsibility, not mine. I only know what works for me.


I can tell you this..... No glutens were harmed in the making of this website.

June 20, 2012

Seafood Chowder




















I've been trying to incorporate more seafood into our diet.

I'm meeting a surprising amount of resistance actually. BigJ hates orange coloured fish, littlej and MiddleC both hate prawns and they all hate picking meat around tiny little fishy bones. I'm trying to change their perception of fish and give them courage to tackle the unknown at the same time.

A curry was on my radar, we all love Asian style curries, and familiarity is always comforting, but then with minus 5*C outside, I got to craving a lovely, thick, rib sticking bowl of soup to cuddle my hands around. My family will love it! Well, with nothing else on offer it's love it or go hungry- those are my rules :)


I was going to buy a selection of seafood, but then I spied this marinara mix- what a bargain at just $5kg! Obviously needing to be used quickly, but with a great mix of white fish, mussels, prawns, salmon, ocean trout and calamari I wasn't going to pass it up.






















750gm Seafood Marinara Mix
3 Corn Cobs
1 big or 2 small Carrots
3 nice Eshallots or 1 large Onion
4 medium Potatoes
Veggie or Fish Stock (about 1.5lt, but varies)
2 cloves of Garlic
3 tablespoons Gluten free Flour
Flat leaf Parsley
Lemon Zest and juice to taste
Salt and Pepper























Strip the kernels from the corn cobs, slicing down the length into lovely milky slabs





















Don't waste the empties, I popped them and the other veggie off-cuts into a pot of water to make the stock for my soup while I prep the rest of the ingredients






















Chop the veggies into nice dice. You certainly don't need to make them this small, I just thought they looked pretty. Use a food processor if you like
I also chopped the seafood smaller to make it incorporate into the soup better, and make it less 'obvious' visually























Pop the shallots, celery and carrot and garlic into a pan with a couple of tablespoons of oil, and sweat them down gently without colouring until slightly softened
























Add in the flour and stir to coat and to cook out the 'rawness' in the flour.
Careful it doesn't stick or burn!
























Pour in the stock, add the potatoes and bay leaf and season


























Leave to simmer gently until the potatoes are just tender. Stir from time to time just to make sure it doesn't catch on the bottom

























A good chowder is nice and thick, a lot contain cream or milk, but I want to keep mine dairy free  so I think I can get a great creamy texture by quickly pulsing the finished soup instead. I certainly don't want to puree it, just a quick buzz or two with my stick blender to smash out some of the starch from the potatoes and corn.

See, Before and After:





















Now it's time to add in the seafood.
Turn the heat right down low. Stir around gently, the heat of the soup will start to cook it straight away and you certainly don't want to over cook it into little fishy bullets- yuck!





















This is the time to check for final seasoning and even add in a little lactose or dairy free cream if you like. I also added a quick scrape of lemon zest and a bit more finely chopped parsley to freshen it up before plating

























Now the Final Product!

Lovely thick and creamy, mellow with the mix of seafood with a little zing from the lemon. Yummo! Just what was needed for such a freezing cold evening.





















So Dear Readers, do you like soup on a miserable cold night, and does your family eat much seafood?








39 comments:

  1. I love this seafood chowder! My DH is not much of a seafood fan - great idea to cut it up smaller I must give that a try. I love soup all year round, thanks for sharing such a great recipe! :)

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    1. Thanks Ina, I hope you can get away with it and that he loves it too!

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  2. $5 a kilo is a proper bargain! I get excited at $10 haha! We could eat more fish at home. I'd like to eat more fish but it seems harder to get good fish these days than meat and we go to a wholsale butcher so I always forget about the fish. I should buy the fish in bulk too and freeze :) Great recipe!

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    1. I love a good bargin as well Nic :) Fish is one of those items that you need to be able to buy really fresh. I like to buy in bulk and freeze in portion sizes too!

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  3. It still looks pretty orange yellow poor big J his mother must of made him eat smoked cod with white sauce like my mother when he was a child. Looks nice but I will try it with another fish (prob smoked cod :)) rather than marinara mix. Soup is my favourite meal and we eat it alot all kinds of soup but mainly red lentil also Im trying to convert my husband to frozen fillets when we cant get fresh.

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    1. I love smoked fish, but nowdays I buy the hot smoked salmon or ocean trout instead of the dyed orange stuff from overseas!

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  4. I have never made chowder but with this cold weather we are having I am thinking a nice hot cup of this to hold might be just the thing to warm my freezing hands..... thanks for the whiz tip to make this nice and creamy without the added dairy.

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    1. Perfect handwarmer Sherilyn- after a good cup of Earl Grey that is :)

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  5. Yum! I adore chowders with their lovely creaminess. You'll never encounter seafood resistance from me and $5 a kilo is an amazing bargain :)

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    1. Soup that's nice and creamy and thick is so satisfying for this time of year. Seafood resistance is futile Lorraine :)

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  6. I would really try this one. This looks very tempting with your stepwise instructions. It has been raining here for the past few days and your seafood chowder is just perfect for warming me up!
    http://cosmopolitancurrymania.blogspot.hk/

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    1. I hope you warm up soon, and that this soup helps you along!

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  7. I envy your chopping skills. I didn't know you could use the corn husks to make stock! Minus 5??? That is seriously cold so yes, this is the perfect meal for those conditions. And that seafood was a bargain. And great to buy a mixed bag - everyone in your family can pick out the bits they will eat xx

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    1. I hate to waste anything Charlie, the cobs went into the stock pot and I saved and froze the peeled off husks to make tamales with. Thrifty house wife indeed!

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  8. $14 a kilo here, and I chop the mussels smaller because I don't like them so much. I made a thai-style chowder recently using green curry paste, coconut milk, chicken stock (home-made) and a whole pile of the marinara mix! Yum! I'm trying to get more seafood into us too :-)

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    1. Sounds gorgeous Janet! I'll make curry next time too :)

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  9. Looks so creamy but is dairy free? sweeeet!

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  10. Chowder!! Reminds me of the Simpsons every time :) I've never made one even though I have a book I bought in the US that practically devotes a chapter to it. Must change that. Looks lovely. We're totally a soup AND seafood family.
    Heidi xo

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    1. I have a book devoted to Clam Chowder too, but I can only find tinned ones so haven't ventured there yet Heidi. It sounds like your Ben is happy to eat anything you dish up- how nice and easy!

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  11. That looks beautiful and delicious! I was brought up on seafood and I absolutely love it all -especially shell fish!

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    1. We mainly had tinned fish, or that bright orange dyed smoked fish, or the odd fish finger or two Lucy. Thank goodness that times have changed! My favourite are nice fat scallops- yumm!

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  12. I try to find ways to incorperate seafood in my diet too, but it's my own fault, I don't like it :s
    I'll definitely try this though, it looks so inviting!

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    1. Curries are good too Jasmyne, as the flavour isn't as strong that way. I'm proud of you for trying!

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  13. I'm so cold, I want a bowl of this soup! Wonderful way to use marinara mix, Becca, thank you!

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  14. gosh that marinara mix looked good!

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  15. that looks so nice and healthy... mmh good weather for that!!!

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    1. Yes, but don't tell anyone Dolly, it's so much more enjoyable to think it's full of naughty stuff :)

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  16. This looks unbelievably rich and indulgent but very healthy too. All the corn and veggies in this are a nice touch.

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    1. Val it was a great mix, and I was happy that we weren't skimping on veggies and fibre content :)

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  17. I'm trying to include more seafod in our diets too - and I just KNOW the hubby would love this!

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  18. Wow... Absolutely perfect for the winter and to feed the family! LOVE this. And can I just say how amazed I am by your awesome knife skillzzzzzz??? Give me 2 whole hours and I still wouldn't be able to pull that off. Not even close. Sorry for my overenthusiasm over the weirdest things haha. Oh oh and I'm so glad to see this post cause my friend just gave me his stick blender and I still haven't used them yet. Woot.

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    1. Thanks Winston, but I've got a lot of re-training to do to get back up to scratch. I love stick blenders, they are so handy, just be sure that it is REALLY turned off before you stick your fingers (or tongue) near the blades!!

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  19. Yum... seafood chowder is perfect for cold days. I had the best clam chowder when I was in Boston earlier this year... how I miss it:)

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    1. I'd love to try the 'real' thing Tania. My friend Tania from here said the same thing when she visited the states too! :)

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