Seafood Chowder
- 1 cup Cashews (raw)
- 1/2 pound Crab (I used steamed mini crab claws)
- 1 pound Clams (in the shell- steamed and shelled)
- 2 Stalks Celery (Diced)
- 2 Carrots (Diced)
- 2 teaspoons Salt (I used an amazing Dalmatian herb infused Adriatic Sea salt- any sea salt will do!)
- 2 cloves Garlic (Diced (I used purple heirloom from roost farm))
- 1/4 cup Red Onion (Diced)
- 1 tablespoon EVOO (I used sage infused oil from Croatia!)
- 1 Sweet Potatoe (Diced)
- 2 Husks of Corn (with the kernels sliced off the husks (you could also use a 1/2 cup of frozen kernels))
- 1/2 cup Lemon Basil (Diced) (If you don't have this you can use regular basil and the juice of half a lemon... But don't add the citrus until the potatoes and corn are soft. Lemon's acidity slows the break down of the starch)
- 1 Zucchini (Small)
- 1/2 pound Wild Alaskan Salmon
- Pepper Corns for Salmon (I used bourbon black pepper)
Rinse and soak cashews in water for at least 2 hours.
Bring 4 cups of water to a boil with celery, carrots, onion, garlic, and oil.
Boil for about 10-15 minutes while you chop the sweet potato and lemon basil and slice the corn off the husk.
Add the sweet potato and boil another 10 minutes.
While the broth and potatoes are boiling, steam the clams. Put the fresh closed clams in a steamer and steam in high until the clams open, about 10 min. They should look like this.
Use an emulsion blender to blend the soup so that about half of the vegetable pieces turn into a creamy consistency in the broth. We still want veggie chunks but we also want a thick broth. I try to blend any large pieces - where I might have gotten lazy chopping.
Blend soaked cashews with about 1/2 cup of water until they are thick and creamy. Adjust water based on your food processor, you want enough liquid so it can blend but not too much that it gets milky.
Shred the zucchini.
Add the cashew cream mixture and the zucchini to the broth.
Pluck the clams out of their shells and set them aside with the crab.
Grill the salmon- or bake it if you don't want to/have a grill. I grilled mine on a cherry cedar plank with bourbon black pepper 🙂 totally optional but very delish!
Mix the seafood into the broth and garnish with lemon basil.
Serve and enjoy!
