Mussel Chowder
Serves 4
Tasty and wholesome, a heartwarming Mussel Chowder is the perfect ‘chow’ on cold winter weekends. As soon as the mercury starts to drop, get a great big pot out, gather your ingredients and get cooking. Just make sure you’ve got loads of crusty bread on the side, to mop your chowder bowl clean.
Choose from a selection of mussels from Sea Harvest’s Retail Shops
Ingredients
- 1 kg frozen Mussel meat
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) Vegetable stock powder
- 2 cups (500 ml) Hot water
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) Olive oil
- 1 medium Onion, finely chopped
- 1 clove Garlic, minced
- ½ Red bell pepper, finely chopped
- 2 cups (500 ml) Cubed potatoes (1.5 cm dice)
- 410 g tin Whole sweetcorn, drained
- 1 cup (250 ml) Fresh cream
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) Maizena – corn flour
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) Cold water
- 1 tsp (5 ml) Freshly chopped parsley
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Method
- Thaw the mussel meat overnight in the refrigerator. Before preparing, remove from bag, rinse and drain. Set aside until ready to use.
- Prepare the stock by adding the water to the stock powder and stirring until all the powder has dissolved. Set aside until ready for use.
- Heat a saucepan with the olive oil and sauté the onions and garlic until the onions are softened.
- Add the peppers and potatoes together with the prepared vegetable stock and bring to a simmer for 15 minutes until the potatoes have now halfway softened.
- Add the mussels, sweetcorn, cream and leave to simmer on low heat for 5 minutes. Add the milk to the corn flour and stir. Add this thickener to the chowder and simmer for a further 10 minutes on a low heat, stirring to prevent any sticking of the sauce to the saucepan. Add the parsley and season with salt and black pepper to taste.