Farmers’ Market Spicy Seafood Chowder Base

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Servings: Makes about 4 quarts, 3–4 servings each

This Manhattan-style chowder base is chock full of tomatoes, summer vegetables and herbs — keep it on hand for fast, fresh fish or seafood chowder. Freeze in quarts and then add any combination of oysters, shrimp, crab, clams, scallops or fish at serving time. We topped ours with crispy fried oysters.

Ingredients

12 slices bacon, chopped

1 large sweet potato, diced

1 medium onion, diced

3 stalks celery, diced

2 large carrots, diced

1 large red bell pepper, diced

2 large summer squashes, chopped

1 can (64-ounce) V8 juice (we used spicy!)

2 cans (14-ounce) roasted diced tomatoes

2 bottles (8-ounce) clam juice

¼ cup garlic paste

¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

1 cup each fresh thyme and oregano, loosely packed and chopped

3 large stems fresh rosemary

Several bay leaves

3 tablespoons seafood seasoning (we used Old Bay)

3 tablespoons brown sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

1 stick butter, divided

1 pound of fish or seafood per quart

Directions

In a heavy pot, cook bacon, sweet potato and onion over medium heat for about 3 minutes to render some drippings.
Add remaining fresh vegetables and sauté until al dente, about 5 minutes.
Stir in remaining ingredients except butter and seafood and bring to a simmer. Cook 5–7 minutes until vegetables are tender.
Season with salt and pepper as needed.
Remove rosemary stems and bay leaves.
Cool and freeze or enjoy now.