Cajun Shrimp Chowder: Summer Pleasures for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

Memorial Day weekend means it's summer and summer means chowder. I will never turn down a big bowl of chowder like this Cajun Shrimp Chowder I have had saved on Pinterest for a while now.

I adjusted the recipe slightly--adjusting the heat, adding some creole spices and putting in some corn. The shrimp I had was the smaller size, but it works well here as you get more sweet shrimp per bite of chowder. 

Cajun Shrimp Chowder 

Slightly Adapted from Faith, Hope, Love & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice 

(Makes 6 Servings)

1 Tbsp butter
1 med sweet yellow onion, diced (I used these frozen sauteed glazed onions)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp smoky paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne, or to taste
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste
1/2 tsp celery seed

(I added 1 tsp Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning Mix)
1/3 cup sweet tea vodka or white wine
4 cups low-sodium chicken or veggie broth (I used non-chicken stock)
2 cups milk (I used 2 cans coconut milk for all of the milk)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 Tbsp brown sugar
2 bay leaves
2 1/2 lbs red potatoes, peeled & diced or baby red potatoes, halved

(I added 8 oz frozen sweet corn, defrosted)
1 1/2 lbs shrimp, peeled & de-veined (I used 52-60 size)

Over medium heat, melt the butter in a large Dutch oven or soup pot. When the butter is melted, stir in the onion, salt, pepper, garlic powder, thyme, oregano, paprika, cayenne, red pepper flakes, and celery seed and cook for 5 minutes stirring occasionally.  

Stir in the vodka and allow to simmer for two minutes. Add the broth, milk, cream, brown sugar, bay leaves, and diced potatoes. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. 

When the chowder comes to a boil, lower the heat to medium and continue to cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the corn and shrimp and cook 3 to 5 minutes, or until they are just cooked through. Remove the bay leaves before serving.

Notes/Results: Lots of delicious flavor and just the right amount of kick for me. I really do like the smaller shrimp in this one--even if it meant I had to shell twice as many! ;-) I thought the corn as a nice touch and would probably throw in some red pepper next time too. As usual, I used coconut milk to cut down on the saturated fat and still get a thick, creamy broth but you can use any milk you want. I will happily make this again.  

Tina is in the Souper Sundays kitchen this week!

Tina of Squirrel Head Manor has been cooking up a storm while camping, including these Burgers. She says, "It's been incredibly hot and when the sun bakes the area where we set up the grill and camp kitchen, I move indoors. ... Here's a grilled burger with tomato, cheese and onion trimmings for one of our lunches."

 

 

Thanks Tina for hanging out with me this week!

 

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here.
 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up to Souper Sundays in order to be included in the weekly round-up.
• Although we are pretty wide on what defines a soup, sandwich or salad, entries that are clearly not in the same family (ie: desserts, meats, random main or side dishes that aren't salads, etc.) are meant for another round up and will be deleted. 

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and add a link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to this post or my blog on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (completely optional).

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter 

Have a happy, healthy week!