I’m now officially out east cooking for a family for the summer, tapping my fingers away on an iPad and hoping this post comes out alright. In the few weeks since I’ve joined the private chef field I’ve had moments both of panic / anxiety and major food triumph – my cooking skills are back to where they were before going more fully into pastry, if not better.

The family loves a rich or bright soup as their first course. So after frantically packing up their apartment, heading east, unpacking, marketing and running out repeatedly for odds and ends, I threw together this soup – start to finish – in about forty minutes. Longer simmering or letting it sit overnight would have made it even better, but it was pretty darned delicious, and a great start to cooking by the water for the summer.

Happy Friday,
Jacqueline

Shrimp, Corn and Crab Chowder

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 cans crab meat (I used one fine lump and one regular)
16 large shrimp, peeled and de-veined
3 ears of corn
3 cups fish stock plus more as needed
4 Tbsp unsealed butter
1/4 cup olive oil plus more as needed
1 large red bell pepper, diced small
1 large red onion, diced small
1 bunch green onions, sliced thin with 1/2 inch of greens
5 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped fine
6 small fingerling potatoes, peeled and diced small
Salt and pepper to taste (kosher or large-flake salt and freshly cracked pepper are best)

Directions

In a soup pot, bring oil up to a low/medium heat. Sauté onions and garlic until soft. Add red pepper and sauté until just softening. Add crab meat and toss to combine. Let simmer for 5 minutes. Add diced potatoes and stock, bring up to a low boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes until the potatoes are just softening.

Meanwhile, heat butter in a small sauce or fry pan. Cook shrimp in batches on medium/high heat, about 1-2 minutes on each side. Remove to a cutting board and cut in two or three pieces each.

Remove corn kernels from cobs, reserving cobs. In remaining butter, sauté corn on high heat in batches, cooking until crispy and slightly golden. Remove with melted butter to a boil.

When potatoes are softened but not yet mushy, add corn to soup. Stir and simmer for 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

When ready to serve, use the sharp edge of a knife to scrape any extra raw corn kernel remains from the cobs directly into pot,then fold in shrimp and bring up to heat for a few minutes.

* Note, that scallop was leftover from what I seared for them, and therefore the little treat that topped my tiny bowl of the chowder.