CHUNKY BEAUFORT CHOWDER

Creamy and delicious!

This recipe is a brilliant idea by Chef Jacques Larson at The Obstinate Daughter, Sullivan’s Island SC which takes the messy ingredients of a Frogmore Stew and creates a chowder that becomes an elegant dish!

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 large vidalia onion, finely chopped

2 celery stalks, finely chopped

1 1/2 cups dry white wine

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

6 ears fresh corn, shucked; cut kernels off the cob and scrap the milk into a bowl

4 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/2 cup flour 

5 cups clam juice

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup milk (plus more if needed)*

Sea salt

16 fingerling potatoes

12 ounces cooked beef kielbasa

1 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined 

Freshly ground pepper

Chives (garnish)

In a large skillet heat the olive oil on medium high heat and saute the onions and celery until they are translucent about 5 minutes. Add the thyme and white wine and continue to cook until the liquid has been reduced to half. Put into a big pot or Dutch Oven.

Melt butter in the skillet and add flour by the spoonful as you are whisking as it cooks and becomes a paste. Add the clam juice continuing to whisk until thoroughly incorporated. If for some reason it becomes lumpy you can pass through a strainer as you add it to the soup pot. Stir the heated mixture with the vegetables. The corn hardly takes any time to cook; it basically cooks with the heat as you continue to add hot products.

In a pasta pot with colander, heat salted water to boiling and add potatoes. Depending on size, they will take about 10 minutes before becoming tender. Remove from pot and allow to cool while cooking the shrimp in the same water. Bring water back to boil then add the shrimp and cook 3 minutes. Remove shrimp and let cool then adding the kielbasa to the boiling water and cook for 3 minutes. Remove. Cut potatoes, shrimp, and kielbasa into bite size pieces. Add to the vegetables. Pour cream into the soup. Over a  low heat, simmer until all the ingredients are heated together, stirring all the time. At this point I added milk to make the soup the consistency I desired.* Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Pour into soup bowls and garnish with chopped chives. Serve with soda crackers. Serves 6.