On St. Patrick’s Day, you may not find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but you may receive a treasure’s worth of compliments when serving a pot of this Irish Seafood Chowder. This tasty dish is versatile because you can use a combination of just about any seafood your family enjoys.
When I recently made the chowder, I used shrimp, artificial crabmeat and clams. However, any of those can be replaced with equal amounts of scallops, fresh or canned crabmeat, salmon, or cod fillets (cut into bite-size pieces).
The secret to this chowder is to make sure it doesn’t boil. So, keep the temperature at medium low.
To make your St. Patrick’s Day meal extra special, serve this chowder along with these Open-faced Corned Beef Sandwiches and a tall glass of ice-cold lemonade. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
IRISH SEAFOOD CHOWDER
2 slices of bacon
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1 leek, chopped (or two green onions, sliced)
2 stalks of celery, chopped
3 small carrots, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
4 cups potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 cups fish broth or clam juice (or 2 shrimp bouillon cubes, melted in 2 cups boiling water)
1 bay leaf
4 ounces cream cheese, cut into cubes
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 cups milk
1/2 pound artificial crab meat (or salmon or cod), cut in small pieces
8 ounces shrimp (tails removed)
1 (6-ounce) can minced clams (or crabmeat) drained
1 teaspoon tarragon
1/2 teaspoon thyme (or creole seasoning)
In an iron Dutch oven or other heavy cooking pot, cook bacon over medium heat. Remove from pan when crispy and set aside. When cool enough to handle, chop bacon into small pieces.
To bacon drippings, add olive oil, leek (or green onions), celery, carrots and garlic and saute until celery is tender. (You may add a little water if vegetables are still not tender.)
Add potatoes, broth (or clam juice or shrimp bouillon broth) and bay leaf to the pot and cook for 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
In a blender, put 1 cup milk, cream cheese, cornstarch and 2 cups of hot soup, blend until smooth and return mixture to pot. Add remaining milk to pot as well.
Stir in imitation crab meat, clams and shrimp (or your choice of seafood). Blend together and add bacon pieces and seasonings and cook on medium low heat until shrimp is pink and if fish is used, it’s done.
Do not allow chowder to boil! Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove bay leaf.
If too thick, you may add a little more milk to achieve the consistency you prefer. Keep warm until serving time.
OPEN-FACED CORNED BEEF SANDWICHES
2 hamburger buns split to make 4 sandwiches
2 cups chopped corned beef
3 tablespoon honey-mustard dipping sauce
4 slices Swiss cheese
Lightly brown hamburger buns. Chop corned beef in food processor. Mix honey-mustard sauce with corned beef. Spread over buns; top with Swiss cheese and put under broiler just long enough to melt cheese.
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