Dairy Free Seafood Chowder

It tastes much better than it looks in my terrible photo

When I made paella the other night, it came to my attention that I had a bag of frozen seafood mix in the freezer.  

I had thought it was frozen prawns so had to fish prawns out of the mix for the paella, but still needed to use up the remainder before it got freezer burn.  

This particular seafood mix is prawns, squid and mussels and normally I'd make a seafood risotto with it, but I wanted something a bit lighter that I could throw together quickly when I got home from Cub Scouts.

In my second waitressing job, when I was a teen in New Zealand, Seafood Chowder was a very popular choice for a starter.  

I had a look for Seafood Chowder recipes online but the ones I found were full of cream and butter.  

They looked absolutely delicious but not really appropriate while Mr Duncan is on his blood pressure programme.

In the morning I put the frozen seafood mix in a bowl of water to thaw and de-salt.

Fertility focus

Mussels, like other shellfish are a rich source of vitamin D and vitamin B12.  They also contain copper, iron, selenium and zinc.
Prawns are rich in zinc which is essential for healthy sperm.

Ingredients

• Coconut oil
• Onion, finely chopped
• Carrot, diced
• Potatoes, diced
• Water - about 500 mls
• Seafood mix (prawns/squid/mussels)
• Coconut milk - about 100 mls
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Parsley

Method

1.  Sweat the onion in a teaspoon of coconut oil 

2.  Add carrot and potatoes to soften (like a mirepoix if you've been watching the cooking shows).  

3.  Add water, cover and bring to a boil.  

4.  Simmer for about 10 minutes until potatoes are nearly cooked. 

5.  Add roughly chopped seafood mix and simmer until the seafood is heated through.
6.  Remove from flame and blend with a hand mixer - I like my chowder chunky so I only blend about half of it, until the 'broth' becomes creamy with blended potato but there are still lots of unblended bits of seafood and veg.  

7.  Mix in coconut cream and return to flame to re-heat.  

8.  Serve garnished with chopped parsley.