Fish Chowder Recipe is Simple & Inexpensive Meal
Hearty Seafood Soup is Quick & Easy to Make Meal for Family Dinner
Sep 18, 2009
As summer turns to fall and shorter days take on a chill, soup can become a satisfying meal to prepare and to serve. This hearty soup made with fresh vegetables and fish along with a little help from prepared soup for the broth, is easy and quick to prepare. It can be a one-pot meal for the whole family or, in smaller portions, the soup course for a more elaborate meal.
There are recipes for Fish Chowder that have various ethnic origins, but the one thing in common is that they originated as a one-pot meal for people who had access to fish as a food staple – in other words – those who lived near the sea.
Quick & Easy Fish Chowder Recipe
Ingredients:
- ½ stick butter
- 2-3 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 2 carrots peeled, sliced thinly
- 2 stalks celery, small chopped
- 2 C vegetable broth
- 2-3 tilapia* fillets cut in chunks
- 1 can Progresso creamy mushroom soup (18oz)
- 1T dried parsley flakes or 2T fresh parsley chopped
- Lemon juice squeezed from ½ lemon
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Stale bread cut into cubes
Directions:
- In large pot melt butter and sauté garlic, carrots and celery until tender about 10 min.
- Add vegetable broth and heat to simmer.
- Add tilapia fillets and simmer about 15 min. stirring occasionally.
- Add parsley.
- Add cream of mushroom soup and low simmer for 5 min. stirring frequently.
- Squeeze lemon into pot just before serving.
- Place bread cubes in bottom of bowl and ladle soup on top.
- Add sprig of parsley for decoration.
*Tilapia is a small, firm, mild white fish that is usually available in the fresh seafood section of grocery stores and markets. Catfish is another inexpensive fish that can hold up well during cooking.
To make the chowder an even more substantial meal, potatoes cut into small cubes can be added to the broth, then add 15 min. to cook the potatoes before adding the fish. Fresh or frozen corn kernels are also a nice addition to the chowder – add the corn just before adding fish to the pot.
Buying Fresh Fish at the Grocery Store
When a particular fish is on sale, it's cost effective to purchase a quantity to freeze in individual plastic bags that can be easily thawed to prepare a meal. To thaw frozen fish, place the sealed plastic bag containing several small fish fillets in the refrigerator in a container of cold tap water. This method allows for safe thawing of fish.
If purchasing a larger quantity of fish in the seafood section of the grocery store to repackage and freeze at home, be sure to ask if the fish had been previously frozen. Previously frozen seafood that has thawed and not been cooked should not be refrozen.
Fish Chowder can be prepared with fish that is available and fresh as it originally was prepared by those who lived near the sea, or with fresh or frozen fish that is purchased at the grocery store. Try variations of this inexpensive and hearty soup by adding vegetables on hand in the kitchen – a wonderful way to use up what's in the vegetable bin.
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