Seafood Chowder – Gluten Free, Dairy Free, AIP, Paleo

Tonight we had a seafood chowder for dinner, and it was gluten-free, dairy-free, AIP-friendly and Paleo….

How is that possible?  Doesn’t chowder contain potatoes and other non-paleo, non-AIP ingredients? And aren’t most chowders thickened with flour and laced with dairy products?

Well I managed it with some sneaky substitutions, and while this chowder does taste a little sweeter than most (thanks to the white sweet potatoes I used), it still has a delicious savoriness about it thanks to all the seafood and the fish broth.  It also has a wonderful creamy texture.

Seriously, this is one kick-ass chowder!

I made this for dinner and served it with my plantain muffins (can we say carb overload here?), but it would be equally good for lunch.  Next time, I might give the muffins a miss and serve it with a green salad for a less carby, lighter option.  But even so, I was really happy with the results

You can use any seafood you want as long as you keep the amounts the same – in this chowder I used a frozen seafood mixture that contained clams, mussels and scallops (aprox 1lb worth) along with 8oz of cod fillet.  But feel free to use all clams to make a clam chowder, all crabmeat to make a crab chowder or whatever floats your boat….  this is a very forgiving recipe and you can add whatever protein ingredient you like the most.

Seafood Chowder

serves 6

• 2 tbsp coconut oil or fat of choice (this would be awesome made with bacon fat!)
• 1 diced onion
• 1 stick of celery – diced
• 2 carrots – peeled and diced (aprox 1 cup)
• 1 cup rutabaga (diced)
• 4 cups of white sweet potato – divided into 2 (you could probably use an orange sweet potato in this but it would affect the colour)
• 1 cup fish bone broth  (I also added the juices that had collected in the packet of my seafood mixture)
• 2 cans of coconut milk – reserve half a can to blend the sweet potatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• sea salt
• 1.5lb  mixed seafood of choice (I used a frozen seafood mix that contained clams, mussels and scallops along with some diced cod)
• 1 bunch of green onions chopped
• chopped parsley to garnish

First up you are going to heat your coconut oil or other fat in a large pan over a low heat.  Add the onion, celery, carrot and rutabaga and sautee for 10 minutes until tender.

Add 2 cups of the diced sweet potato along with the fish broth (if you have no fish broth substitute chicken broth along with a dash of fish sauce) and 1.5 cans of coconut milk.

Toss in the bay leaves and thyme and season to taste with sea salt.

Simmer over a low heat.

Add the remaining sweet potatoes to a separate pan and cover with water.   Simmer until tender.

Drain the sweet potatoes in the water and place in a blender with the reserved coconut milk.  Blend until smooth and creamy.

Pour the contents of the blender into the soup and bring back to a simmer.

Add the chopped green onions and the seafood and simmer until cooked through – no more than 2 minutes if your seafood is cooked (you are just reheating it in the soup) and no more than 5 minutes if the seafood is raw – we do not want overcooked tough seafood here folks!

Serve at once garnished with chopped parsley.

As I mentioned earlier I served it with plantain muffins but tbh, they were gilding the lily – the chowder was satisfying enough by itself.  The plantain muffins also contain whole eggs and are therefore a stage 2 reintroduction recipe.

Shared at the Paleo AIP Recipe Roundup 21

Shared at Allergy Free Wednesday #111

Shared at Gluten Free Wednesday 4-23-14

Shared at Simple Meals Friday #28

Shared at Wellness Wednesday

Shared at Five Friday Finds