I’ve been craving soup so much lately, but with it being 90 degrees plus in Oklahoma, in October, it hasn’t really been the best time to unearth the tureen from the dark depths of my winter storage cabinets. So imagine my delight when it was raining when I woke up this morning! Cool, dreary, and rainy: that might not be perfect weather for a lot of things, but it is perfect for soup (or maybe a healthy fish chowder).
I had some Barramundi chilling in my freezer that I’ve been wanting to use, so a nice healthy fish chowder sounded perfect. Feel free to use any firm white fish instead; this soup lends itself well to just about anything with gills.
We started with THIS RECIPE from simplyscratch.com.
Ingredients
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 1/2 cup milk 2% or whole
- 4 strips uncured bacon no sugar listed in ingredients
- 1 Tbsp bottled minced garlic
- 1 onion diced
- 1/2 cup white wine or vegetable broth with no sugar added
- 1 lb purple potato quartered
- 2 cups clam juice
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 2 tsp old bay seasoning
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 lb barramundi fish or other white fish
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley chopped, divided
- 1 batch Cheddar Bay Biscuits optional, see notes
Instructions
- Combine cream cheese and milk in a blender. Blend until smooth. Set aside.
- Heat large pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat.Cook until crispy. Remove bacon with tongs and set on a paper towel-lined plate to cool.
- In same pot, add garlic and onion. Cook until onion is soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add wine or broth. Cook another 7 minutes.
- Add potatoes, clam juice, thyme, salt, pepper, Old Bay®, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Simmer 10-14 minutes or until potatoes are fork-tender. While potatoes are cooking, in a separate small saucepan, heat the cream cheese mixture just until hot; do not boil.
- Submerge the fish chunks into the soup. Top with cream cheese mixture. Keep on low heat (avoid boiling) for 10 minutes. Remove bay leaf; stir in 2 Tbsp chopped parsley and bacon.
- Top with remaining parsley, and a Cheddar Bay Biscuit (optional).
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