Ned’s Naramata Inn Chowder Recipe

The Naramata Inn’s chef Ned Bell loves to cook seafood and highlight local ingredients. This chowder, a smorgasbord of all things aquatic, is a grand celebration of British Columbia’s finest ingredients, especially its fish and shellfish. It’s an ideal pairing with one of B.C.’s other fantastic products: wine. Pick up a bottle from a producer on the Naramata Bench and you’ll be transported to the ocean or the Okanagan, your choice!

Ingredients

Shellfish and broth:

1/4 cup whole butter

1/2 diced white onion

2 cloves garlic

1/2 bottle white wine

1 pound of fresh B.C. clams (Little Neck, Savoury or Manila)

1 pound of fresh mussels

Chowder:

3 tablespoons canola oil

1 small diced medium onion

2 cups Chilliwack corn kernels

2 tablespoons kosher salt

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 bottle white wine

1 pound of diced potatoes

1 litre whole milk

1 litre cream

2 pounds of wild BC fish: B.C. salmon, B.C. halibut, B.C. hake, B.C. sablefish, or B.C. ling cod. You can use fresh or frozen, diced into 1-inch cubes.

Directions

Broth and shellfish:

Over medium-high heat in a medium-large pot, sauté the onions and garlic in the butter for two minutes, then add the clams and mussels and sauté for a further one minute.

Add the white wine and cook for two minutes or until the clams and mussels are cooked and the shells pop open.

Remove from heat and stop cooking immediately. With a basket strainer, strain the broth from the shells, keeping both the broth and the shellfish. Remove the clams and mussels from their shells, and set aside.

Chowder:

In a medium pot over medium heat, sauté the onion with the canola oil for two minutes. Add the salt and corn and sauté another for five minutes.

Add the salt and flour to the pot and cook for two minutes. Add the white wine, cook for two minutes. Add the diced potatoes and add the shellfish stock (see above) and cook for three minutes.

Add the milk and cook for three minutes, then add the cream and cook for a further three minutes.

Finally, add the fish and already cooked shellfish (see above) and simmer for three minutes.

To serve:

Ladle the chowder into a bowl, and top with some chopped fresh herbs and foraged sumac. Enjoy with some warm, crusty sourdough and some wonderful Naramata Bench white wine.