SCRAPPY FISH CHOWDER (317 views)

SCRAPPY FISH CHOWDER

SERVES 6 TO 8

Source: Marcus Samuelsson - The Red Rooster Cookbook

Nothing better than a chowder to feed a lot of hungry people. We butcher our fish at Rooster, so we always have a lot of scraps to throw in the pot. When you make this at home, look for the cheapest fillets the fishmonger has that day. If you can find it, try paiche, a very meaty fish from the Amazon. It holds up well in chowder.

The chicken broth mayo is a Harlem riff on rouille—the garlicky saffron sauce from Provence that’s spread on toast to sop up the broth of bouillabaisse.

FOR THE CHICKEN-BROTH MAYO (MAKES ABOUT 2 CUPS)

1 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 whole scallions, chopped
1 jalapeño chile, stemmed and chopped
Coarse kosher salt
1 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Sriracha
1¼ cups grapeseed oil
Juice of 1 lime
Freshly ground black pepper

FOR THE CHOWDER

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
2 carrots, chopped
2 onions, chopped
2 jalapeño chiles, stemmed, seeded, and minced
1 (2-inch) piece ginger, peeled and minced
1 lemongrass stalk, trimmed, smashed, and minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1¼ pounds red-skinned potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes
1 cup canned white beans (your choice), rinsed and drained
4 cups clam juice
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Madras curry powder
2 teaspoons white miso
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
2 pounds fish scraps (see headnote)
2 pounds mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1 loaf sourdough bread, sliced and toasted or grilled

FOR THE CHICKEN-BROTH MAYO

1 Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic, scallions, jalapeño, and a pinch of salt and cook until the vegetables are softened, about 4 minutes. Add the broth and vinegar, turn the heat up to medium-high, and bring to a simmer. Simmer until the liquid is reduced to about 2 tablespoons, 12 to 13 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and cool to room temperature.

2 Put the egg, yolk, mustard, and Sriracha in a food processor and whir until completely mixed and smooth. Add the vegetables and liquid from the pan and puree. With the processor running, pour in the grape-seed oil in a slow steady stream to make an emulsified sauce. To finish, add the lime juice and salt and pepper to taste. Scrape the mayo out into a bowl, cover, and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve. It will keep for 3 days.

FOR THE CHOWDER

3 Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the carrots, onions, jalapeños, ginger, lemongrass, and garlic and cook until the onion is softened, about 8 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, until the tomato paste turns brick red, about 1 minute.

4 Add the potatoes, beans, clam juice, tomatoes, Worcestershire, curry powder, miso, pepper, and bay leaf and stir well. Bring to a simmer, then turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer until the potatoes are very tender and all the flavors have melded, about 1 hour. Discard the bay leaf. You can make the chowder base several hours or even a day ahead. Leave it covered on the stove for an hour or two, or cover and refrigerate.

5 To finish, bring the chowder base to an active simmer over medium-high heat. Stir in the fish and spread the mussels over the top. Cover and simmer until the fish is cooked and the mussels are all opened, 5 to 7 minutes.

6 Divide the chowder between soup plates and serve with the toast and mayo.

SCRAPPY FISH CHOWDER ROYALE

You can fancy this chowder up big-time.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add a 1½-pound lobster, cover, and bring the water back to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes, then take the lobster out of “the pot and let it cool for a few minutes.

Heat a stove-top grill pan over medium-high heat.

Pull the claws off the lobster and crack them with the back of a chef’s knife. Cut the lobster in half lengthwise, spoon out the tomalley, and stir it into the chowder. Grill the lobster body, cut side down, for 3 minutes. Grill the claws for 3 minutes per side. When the lobster is cool enough to handle, pull all the meat out of the lobster body and claws and chop it.

Toss 8 head-on shrimp with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill the shrimp until cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes per side. While the shrimp are grilling, cut a lemon in half and put it on the grill to char. Squeeze the lemon over the shrimp.

Garnish the chowder with the lobster and shrimp. And don’t forget to serve the legs; they’re great for chewing on and sucking out the little bits of meat.”