what's for dinner tonight {christmas eve seafood chowdah}.

okay, so it's not for dinner tonight... but was i about to post on my blog on christmas eve? ummm no.

it's been a tradition in my family to have lobster stew on christmas day... but in most recent years, we've switched to seafood chowder on christmas eve and it. is. awesome. my sis and i began looking through recipes on the internet, and decided to make up our own from taking elements from a few we found. the result? the most *amazing* seafood chowder i've ever put in my mouth. and no... i'm not tooting my own horn. i'm just telling the truth.

it's officially called "the keezer/cornwell mama seafood chowdah" but for simplicity sake, we'll just stick with a shorter title (for those of you who are not from new england, no the "ah" is not a typo). we did a lot of improvising, so here is my best attempt at creating a formal recipe. maybe it should become your new christmas eve tradition.

it should.

christmas eve seafood chowdah

* 3 small potatoes, diced

* 4 stalks of celery, sliced

* 1 onion, diced

* 1 garlic clove, minced

* 1 can of corn kernels

* 1 t. each of thyme, parsley, salt and pepper + additional to taste
* 2 lbs lobster meat, cut into chunks

* 15-20 large sea scallops, halved

* 3/4 lb shrimp, whole

* 1 lb haddock, or another white fish, cut into chunks

* 1 c. milk

* 1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk

* 2 c. half&half

* 1/2 c. flour + some additional to thicken

* 3 c. seafood stock

- sautee onions and celery in butter over medium heat until translucent. add garlic and cook for 1 minute (careful to not burn).

- add potatoes, flour, and seafood stock... and 1 teaspoon each of parsley, thyme and salt and pepper (may need to add more later). cook until potatoes are fork tender (about ten minutes).

- add scallops and haddock, cook for ten minutes. add shrimp, lobster meat and corn.

- add milk, evaporated milk and half&half. DO NOT BRING TO A BOIL or else it will curdle.

- in a small bowl/cup, whisk together flour and a little bit of water until a thick slurry is formed. you can stir this into the chowder to get desired thickness. we did this a few times since we like our chowder thick. we also added more seasonings (salt, pepper, thyme and parsley) until the taste was how we wanted it... can't really tell you how much we used in total... sorry! this is where the creativity comes into play :)

we made this chowder the night before christmas eve, which allowed everything to blend and the taste to become more flavorful. heat up over low heat and serve with biscuits, saltine crackers, or whatever your little heart desires.

as we say in new england: WICKED GOOD.

this will definitely become part of your holiday tradition... if you like seafood, that is. sure blows the restaurant version out of the water. no pun intended.

happy holidays.

love,

the keezer/cornwell mamas