Seafood Chowder with Cheese and Onion Scones

Today was cold and rainy, and I needed something to warm our souls.

Last night was Valentine's Day, and Aaron cooked a delicious meal including a baked salmon, but the fillet was huge and we had a lot of leftover fish, so I decided to make my go-to chowder. It's Aaron's top 5 soup picks, and tonight was one of my best attempts so far!

Seafood Chowder

2 1/2 cups Vegetable Broth

2 1/2 cups Milk (I use skim)

1 oz Butter

1/4 cup Flour

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 potatoes, peeled and cubed

1/2 cup corn

3 bay leaves

1 handful fresh dill (or about 2 tbsp dried dill)

Seafood of choice

Directions

1. Heat the milk and broth in a pot on low.

2. Saute the onion, celery, carrots, and garlic. To lower the fat content, I just do this with some olive oil spray, but it's even more delicious sauteed in butter.

3. Set the vegetables aside. In the same pot, melt the butter, and then whisk in the flour, about one minute.

4. Slowly pour in the milk and broth mixture in batches, whisking to thicken and prevent lumps.

5. Whisk the mixture for approximately 5 minutes with a bay leaf.

6. Pour in the vegetable mixture and simmer for about 10 minutes to combine the flavours.

7. Add the corn and your seafood. (This time the salmon was already cooked so it just needed to be heated through, but if you're using raw fish or sprimp or scallops which is a favorite in our house then heat it just until the seafood is thoroughly cooked.

8. When the seafood is cooked, add in a handful of fresh dill, salt, and pepper to taste.

9. Serve immediately, although it is even better the next day!

Normally we would enjoy this meal with buns, but tonight I conquered one of my fears and tried my hand at baking - duh duh duh! And I'm happy to report that my experiment paid off!

Cheese & Onion Scones

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 oz butter, cold and chopped

1/2 cup cheese (sharp cheese is best but I'm emptying my fridge so I used some shredded mozzarella that we had)

3 green onions, chopped

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

3 tbsp parmesan

NOTE: This recipe actually called for self rising flour, and since I didn't have any, I added the soda and powder to help it rise.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425.

2. Stir the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder together in a bowl.

3. Rub in the butter with your fingers.

3. Stir in the cheese and onions. You could subsitute the onions for your favorite herb like chives or parsley or rosemary.

4. Make a well in the middle of the bowl and pour in the water and flour. Fold the mixture together.

5. Pour the dough onto a floured surface and gently knead.

6. Form the dough. You can either roll it into a log and cut it or roll it out and make disks, but I was lazy so I just rolled it out and then cut it into loose squares.

7. Place each scone on a greased cookie sheet, and top with the parmesan.

Bake for 12 - 14 minutes. My oven is a little slow, so it took 14 minutes.

YUMMY!

I also served this meal with MORE cheese - a tomato, avacado, and boccoccini salad, sprinkled with white wine vinegar, cumin, and rock salt - one of Aaron's favorites because it contains cheese and avacados! :)