Clam, chorizo and charred corn chowder is a creamy, smoky comforting dish. The shellfish with the smokey chorizo and charred corn, create amazing flavour, that will have you wanting seconds. Serve with some crusty bread and you are on to a simple yet crowd pleasing dish.
Selecting Your Shellfish
Its great when you can go into your local fish shop or supermarket and they have live tanks that hold fresh shellfish. We love to choose from a whole range of New Zealand Kai Moana (seafood). With a delicious range of shell fish fresh oysters, mussels, pippi's, tua tua, storm clams. YUM!
When you are purchasing shellfish there are a couple of things to look out for. Make sure that the shells are intact and not broken, they should smell of the fresh sea. You also give them a tap and they should close and have a good weight to them. Also get to know your local fish monger, ask when they were harvested and find out what's fresh and local to your region.
You might also love...
Preparing And Cooking Shellfish
Before you cook shellfish, you should purge the shells in fresh water over night, this helps the shellfish expel any sand. Always give your shell fish a wash in fresh water. With mussels scrub off any barnacles and remove the beards prior to cooking
You can cook shellfish in many ways but the main way is to steam in a pot with a little garlic, onion and wine, or put them into a soup or stew and let them open as your dish is simmering.
If steaming a great tip is to reserve the liquid after the shells have opened. Strained this make a perfect base for seafood soups or tews.
If the shells don't open during the cooking process, they may need a little more cooking but as a general rule they should all open around the same time. Those that don't open are no good, always discard unopened shellfish.
This delicious clam, chorizo and charred corn chowder really is simple yet full of flavour. So if shellfish is your thing, this is a must try recipe, let us show you how to recreate this tasty dish.
Love this dish? Please leave us a review below. And come join us on social, tag us in your delicious photos Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest. Hungry for more deliciousness? Subscribe to our newsletter, to receive our latest e-recipe book and never miss another ATK recipe!
Our goal is to share simple, tasty dishes created by Chef Shane and partner, Sara. Using Shane's understanding of flavours and knowledge of food, to teach and inspire you to create delicious food everyday and gain a new level of confidence in the kitchen. Sara understands what it's like preparing weekly dinners for a busy family of five and likes to create dishes that are easy, full of flavour and that the whole family will enjoy.
Happy cooking!
Clam, Chorizo and Charred Corn Chowder
Ingredients
- 1 kg Omega clams (pre cooked- available in New Zealand)
or
- 1 kg Raw clams
- 40 ml Canola oil
- 1 Onion Finely diced
- 4 Garlic cloves Crushed
- 1 Celery stick Diced
- 1 Chorizo sausage Thinly sliced
- 2 Potatoes medium Peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
- 80 g Butter
- 65 g Plain flour
- 800 ml Milk
- 20 ml Canola oil
- 100 g Corn kernels Frozen
- Salt and pepper To taste
- Parsley To garnish
- Lemon wedges To garnish
- Optional Crusty loaf of bread To serve
Instructions
- For Omega clams: Open the packet of clams and strain the liquid from the bag through a fine sieve into a bowl. Keep the strained liquid for your soup.
- If you are using raw clams, make sure to purge your clams with fresh water over night. This will help the clams spit out any sand.Heat a large pot onto high heat, add the fresh clams and 100ml of water, cover and allow the clams to steam open. This will take about 2-3 minutes.Once the clams have opened, remove them from the pot and strain the liquid through a fine sieve.
- Remove the meat from ¾ of the clams, keep the remaining clams in the shells for garnish.
- In a large pot add the canola oil and place onto a medium heat, add the diced onion, crushed garlic, diced celery and diced chorizo. Cook until the onion has become translucent, being careful not to colour too much.
- Add the diced potatoes and stir through.
- Add the butter and allow to melt.
- Add the flour and stir into the butter and cook on a medium heat for a couple of minutes.
- Add the reserved clam liquid and stir until it thickens. Add the milk a ¼ at a time, allowing to thicken after adding each ¼. Once all the milk is added turn to a low heat and allow to gently simmer until the potatoes are soft.
- Grab a frying pan and add the canola oil, place onto a high heat and add the frozen corn kernels, fry the corn kernels until they are charred and golden in colour.
- Add the de shelled clams to the soup, also add the charred corn.
- Check the taste and season with salt and pepper if needed.
- Add the clams that are in the shells to your serving bowls and ladle over the clam chowder, garnish with fresh parsley and warm crusty bread.
Leave your reviews, comments and questions below.