Manhattan chowder

The word chowder is most likely derived from the French name for the soup pot, chaudron. In general, a chowder is any thick vegetable soup, where some of the ingredients were fried in pork fat, and then, almost before serving,
milk was added. The Manhattan Chowder differs from the rest in that it is seasoned with chopped tomatoes instead of milk, a feature said to have been brought in by Portuguese emigrants, for whom the combination of seafood and tomatoes is the most common thing. The shells traditionally used in it are clams, but they are also cooked with mussels or other shells.

Ingredients

• 1.5 l fish broth
• 12 large raw shrimps
• 300 g clams or mussels without shells
• 400 g sea fish fillet (haddock, pollock, cod)
• 100 g of not very fatty bacon
• 3 medium potatoes
• 3 celery stalks
• 2 large white onions
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 can (400 g) chopped tomatoes in their own juice
• 1 tbsp. l. good ketchup
• 2 tbsp. l. butter
• 3 sprigs of thyme and parsley
• salt, freshly ground black pepper
• zest of half an orange, to serve

Directions

1. If shrimp, fish and mussels are frozen, defrost them in advance on the top shelf of the refrigerator in a colander in a bowl. Peel the shell of the shrimp and remove the dark intestinal vein. Cut the fish into medium pieces.
2. Cut the potatoes into medium cubes. Finely chop the onion and celery, chop the garlic, chop the bacon. Melt butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, add bacon, fry over low heat for 2 minutes. Add onion, garlic and celery, cook until soft, stirring occasionally to prevent discoloration, 5-7 minutes.
3. Remove the thyme leaves from the stems. Put potatoes and thyme (both stems and leaves) in a saucepan, cover with warm broth, bring to a boil and simmer under a lid over low heat for 15–20 minutes. Place the tomatoes with the liquid and bring to a boil.
4. Add shrimp, fish, and mussels to the saucepan. Bring to a boil over low heat, cook for 3 minutes. Remove the stems of the thyme. Chop the zest and parsley together. Season the chowder with salt and pepper to taste, serve hot, sprinkle with parsley zest.