Cockle Chowder
Simple chowder recipe, cockles could easily be substituted for mussels, pipis, and any other seafood.
Ingredients
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 25 g butter
- 1 t olive oil
- 2 T flour, heaped
- 2 c milk
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 small potatoes, cubed into about 1cm squares
- 1 small can corn kernels
- 1 kg cockles, purged of grit*
Instructions
- Saute onion, celery and garlic in butter and olive oil.
- Add flour, keep stirring and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Lower the heat then add in the milk slowly, stirring constantly so that the sauce doesn't go lumpy.
- Add bay leaf, corn kernels and potatoes, simmer low and slow so the potatoes cook through without the milk reducing too much. If this happens, add a bit of water.
- Prepare cockles while the potatoes are cooking.
Cockles
- Make sure the cockles have been well purged of sand, see note below.
- Steam the cockles with a small amount of water in a covered pot or pan until they just start to open.
- Keep the steaming liquid, strain if gritty and put aside.
- Remove the cockle flesh from about 75% of them. Add some shells to the soup for flavour.
- With the remaining 25% of cockles, check for grit. Add these at the last minute as they serve as a decoration as well as for eating.
Final steps
- Once the potatoes are cooked to your liking add some of the steaming liquid to the soup. Do this to your taste. If you add all of it the soup could be very salty.
- Add the cockle meat and cockles in the shells.
- Serve in bowls, garnish with herbs you have available, black pepper and some paprika can be nice.
Notes
I never use cockles directly into a dish just in case they still have grit in them. The grit can ruin the dish. I prepare the cockles separately by steaming them. i use the reserved steaming liquid for seasoning and shells for decoration.
To purge cockles. I keep the cockles in a bucket of sea water in a shady place and replace the water every 4-6 hours over about 24 hours. Fortunately I'm doing this on a boat so the sea water is readily available.
