Mr. Hawthorne Makes A Shrimp Chowder.

Mr. Hawthorne's Shrimp Chowder

Not long ago, Mr. Hawthorne and I ate lunch at La Cabana in Manteo. Mr. H. had a divine shrimp chowder there and has been jonesin' ever since to make his own.

We found heads-on shrimp for $5.99 at the Teeter.

Very nice sized shrimp.

After romping in the pool with Dixie, Glowria helped me with the de-heading, shelling, and de-veining. As I said, there is a price to pay for swimming in the Hawthorne pool. Here, Glowria dons some fetching earrings.

I'm impressed with the size of these shrimp.

They're bigger than Glowria! Now, remember this is Mr. Hawthorne's Shrimp Chowder. Everything will be prepped and ready for his arrival, so he can just swirl in from work, throw ingredients together, and take all the credit. As you know, Mr. Hawthorne is a credit whore. And as you well know, he has an excellent sous chef.

Tiny dice of carrots.

Mr. Hawthorne said his shrimp chowder at La Cabana had tiny bits of green beans in it. Those are tiny bits of green beans up there. Not scallions or green peppers.

Just a little bit of minced onion, and I suggested a small potato to give the chowder extra starch for natural thickening.

A few tablespoons of corn.

Minced potato.

Mr. Hawthorne just sashayed into the kitchen and has taken over.

He sauteed the carrots, beans, onion, and potatoes in butter for about 2 minutes. You just want them to sweat a bit. Set aside.

Next he chopped about 2 cups of shrimp and 1 cup of flounder. Don't worry about the flounder if you don't have it. Shrimp alone would be fine, but we just happened to have flounder on hand.

Shrimp Chowder 1 carrot, minced 1 small onion, minced 1 small potato, diced handful of green beans, minced 3/4 stick unsalted Land o' Lakes butter 1/2 - 3/4 cup flour 1 quart shrimp stock 2 cups milk 1/2 cup heavy cream or thereabouts Saute carrot, beans, onions, and potatoes in butter for 2-3 minutes. Set aside. Make a roux with 3/4 stick butter and the flour. Cook about 2 minutes over medium heat to cook the raw out of the flour. Slowly whisk in milk and cream. Reduce heat to low. You do not want this to boil or even simmer. Add in flounder and shrimp. Cook through. Maybe 5 minutes. Add in sweated veggies and corn. Heat through. Serve. For a little extra oomph, I like a splash of sherry or white wine in mine and a grating of fresh nutmeg.

Melt the butter.

Add in the flour ...

... whisking constantly for about 2-3 minutes. You want to cook the flour. It should be slightly tan-colored.

Gradually whisk in 1 quart of shrimp stock.

Check out the consistency.

Next, Mr. Hawthorne added in the milk ...

... and the cream.

Freshly ground pepper.

And freshly ground salt. Be sure to hold your pinkie out like Mr. Hawthorne.

Mr. Hawthorne decided it needed a tad more milk. Depends on how you want the consistency of your chowder.

Mr. Hawthorne added in the flounder and shrimp. Low heat. Just cook through. About 5 minutes.

Corn in.

And the rest of the veggies. Low heat.

This is smooth, velvety, and shrimpy.

And perfect.

Sorry for the picture quality here, but it's dark outside and I'm shooting under indoor light. I like to add a splash of sherry and a grating of fresh nutmeg in my chowder.

For heaven's sake, don't do like I did in the video and add in the whole bottle of sherry. All you need is a splash.

The next day for lunch, I poured myself another bowl of chowder. This time, I added some dried thyme from my garden which is way better than the thyme from the grocery store and a few shakes of paprika-infused oil. For paprika infused oil, I heat about 3 TB paprika in a dry skillet until you can smell it. Then I add in about 8 ounces of oil. Heat through. Let cool, then pour into a squirt bottle and keep refrigerated. This was sublime.