Crowded seafood chowder

A delicious soup for the chilly season

By Morgan Hannah, Life & Style Editor

The chilly air first thing in the morning had me starting up a fire to keep warm. I loaded the stove with shredded wood and paper and thought about fall. I thought about the crisp leaves in the colours of the season: orange, sienna, and gold. I thought about pumpkin pie and sweet, heady spices. I thought about soup.

Being a British Columbian, I find that an excellent soup to warm the ol’ bones is a seafood chowder. Luckily for me, the Fraser River is the longest river system in all of British Columbia, providing the province with fresh salmon, trout, steelhead, and white sturgeon—North America’s largest freshwater fish. Additionally, living along the ocean provides British Columbians with even more ocean goodies. This results in a delicious and crowded chowder that my partner would be proud of. He often insists on dinner having at least three different animals in it, which brings me to the busiest chowder you’re likely to try this fall season.

As an added bonus, this recipe is made dairy and gluten-free too. Now you can enjoy a creamy chowder without the cream!

Crowded Seafood Chowder (Dairy & Wheat Free)

5 cups chicken stock

1/4 cup of butter or oil

1 onion (diced)

italian seasoning

thyme

a quarter cup of rice flour

2 celery stocks (chopped)

1 carrot (chopped)

2 potatoes (chopped)

1 tomato (diced)

1 cob of corn (shucked)

1/2 cup of white wine

8 ounces fish

8 ounces scallops

8 ounces shrimp

1 can of coconut cream

basil

salt and pepper

corn starch (to thicken)

Method:

In a large soup pot, fry the onion in margarine with seasonings or spicy olive oil, then add the chopped carrots, celery, and potatoes. Stir a couple of times, then mix in the corn. Once all the veggies are in the pot, mix in the flour—making sure the veggies are well coated. Splash in the chicken broth, white wine, and coconut cream, then add the seafood and diced tomato and stir until the fish is cooked. Due to the recipe being gluten-free, it is recommended to sprinkle in cornstarch to thicken the chowder to one’s liking. Lastly, add salt and pepper to taste.