I love a good chowder in the winter; it’s a wonderful comfort food served up with some crusty Italian bread. This fall I found a southern inspired seafood base that I wanted to try, and picked up a three-pack of Chilau Seafood Sauce (one each of original, citrus, and gumbo). This chowder will definitely become one of my staples. It has just the right amount of warm heat from the Chilau Seafood Sauce base, not a fire-breathing spiciness.

I used lobster tail meat and Argentinian Red shrimp, which our local grocer has started stocking. One thing I am definitely missing from Charlotte is the fresh fish markets! 🙂 In this recipe I also used lobster juice. Bar Harbor sells it in 8 oz bottles; alternatively you can use seafood stock, lobster stock, or clam juice. This recipe would be equally as good with other types of seafood or fish – scallops, calamari, lump crab, halibut, etc.

Let’s get cooking!

3 Tbsp Kerrygold butter
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup red bell pepper, chopped
3 large Yukon Gold potatoes, chopped
2 cups corn (frozen works well if out of season)
1 cup Chilau Seafood Sauce (I used Original)
8 oz Bar Harbor Maine Lobster Juice
1 cup crushed tomatoes
3/4 cup heavy cream
Juice of one lemon
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 lb lobster tail meat
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 cup dry white wine

Melt butter in a dutch oven or stockpot over medium heat. Add onions and peppers and saute until soft, about 7 minutes. Add the potatoes and corn and stir well to combine. Add the seafood sauce, lobster juice, crushed tomatoes, heavy cream, lemon juice, salt, and pepper; bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer until potatoes are fork tender (about 20 minutes, depending on the size of your chopped potatoes). Do not over cook.

Add the lobster, shrimp, and white wine. Cook for an additional 5 minutes until seafood is just cooked. Remove from heat.

Serve with: shaved Parmesan, quartered lemons for a hit of acid to finish, and crusty bread. Enjoy!! 🙂