SUNDAY SOUP - Fish Chowder

At our house, we cannot eat chowder without calling it "Chow-da" with a Bostonian accent.  It comes from a Simpson's episode.  Try not to judge.

We had shrimp pasta the night before so I kept the shrimp shells to make an easy breezy fish stock.

 I covered the shells with water and added a bay leaf.  You could do a thousand things to make the stock taste better:  celery and celery leaves, peppercorns, carrots, other fish pieces, whatever. At our house, Monday is grocery day, so a bay leaf was all I had to add.  :(

Set your pot to simmer, let it go for about 2 hours, and now you have a stock for your soup.  Obviously, you could use veggie or chicken stock if you didn't have the time or inclination to make the shrimp stock.

Start by sauteeing onions with a bit of oil and dried chilies.

Deglaze the plan with some wine.  I used a white (Riesling).

Shred some carrots.

Add carrots and corn (frozen, fresh, off the cob, whatever you have).

Add the fish and stock and let simmer.

After about 30-60 minutes (depends entirely on how much the smell is making you crazy to eat it), check and adjust your seasonings.  Add a chopped tomato (preferably from your garden).

Finally, throw in 1-2 tablespoons of butter plus 1/4 cup of cream.  Simmer (without boiling) for about 15 minutes, and that will do the trick.  I like to spoon out bowls with a big hunk of buttered bread on the side.  But hey, that's just me.  Enjoy.

For my friend Terri, I just want to say,...Go Chiefs,...and hope they can win a second game this weekend.  :)