Hearty Bay Scallops Chowder

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Hearty Bay Scallops Chowder

Serves 8 as Soupor 4 as Main Dish.

This recipe is from the Cooking with/for Disabilities course in the eCGI.

Hungry for some chowder? I was, and cooked up something a little bit different. Near the Gulf Coast, we almost always have a pound or two of bay scallops on hand. Perfect for chowder, they are already bite-size.

• 2 medium sweet yellow onions/diced to 1/3 inch
  
• 1 T unsalted butter
  
• 1 large baking potato (3/4 lb)
  
• 1/2 c beer
  
• 1 large fresh thyme sprig (or one large dried sprig)
  
• 1/4 tsp white pepper, or more to taste
  
• 1 lb bay scallops
  
• 3 c vegetable broth
  
• 1 c chicken broth
  
• 2 c baby carrots cut in 2 or 3 pieces
  
• 1 ear kernels from cobbed fresh corn
  
• 1 lean pork chop (1/2 lb) diced to 1/2 inch
  
• 3/4 c skim milk
  
• 1/4 c fat free half and half
  
• 1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
  

garnish for 4-6 servings

• 1/4 c bacon crumbles
  
• 1/3 c grated sharp cheddar (fat free or regular)
  

As posted in EGCI Cooking as a Person with Disabilities

Gather and prep all ingredients first; dice onions, wash and dice potato into 1/3 inch, cut carrots, dice pork chop. (If necessary, you may parboil the potato and carrots whole first, before dicing.)

Reserve all but 1/2 cup diced potato in cold water for parboiling with carrots and corn.

Cook 1 onion in butter in covered 4 quart heavy saucepan over low heat until very soft, stir occasionally; 10 minutes. Reserve the other onion to cook with diced pork chop.

Add beer, thyme sprig, and white pepper to onion and boil down about a minute or so; most of liquid will be evaporated. Add 1/2 cup diced potato, 1/2 cup scallops, vegetable and chicken broths, then simmer, uncovered, about 20 minutes; potato should be tender.

Cook the reserved potato with carrot, and corn in boiling water, until tender, 5 to 10 minutes.

While that is parboiling, discard thyme sprig. Carefully purée soup base in several small batches in a blender until very smooth. Transfer puree to a bowl.

Cook diced pork chop with 2nd onion, until pork is cooked through and onion is tender.

Return puree to pan with pork and onion, then drain and add vegetable mixture, milk, half-and-half, and salt. Cook chowder for several minutes, stirring over medium heat so that it does not reach a boil. Add the remaining scallops and continue stirring until scallops are just cooked through, for about 2 to 3 minutes.

Serve sprinkled with 2 tsp bacon crumbles, and 1 tbsp grated sharp cheddar. I like to serve with small thin sourdough toasts on the side, but you can serve with Oyster crackers or other similar crackers. A green salad completes your meal.

Each two cup serving of chowder (not including crackers, or whole fat cheddar) contains about 290 calories and *7 grams fat.

**The sodium will depend on your stock and salt additions. You can minimize that greatly by using your own low sodium stock, as I do.

Keywords: Main Dish, Blender, Seafood, Intermediate, American, eGCI, Healthy Choices

( RG754 )