New England Scallop Chowder

L had bought a bunch of scallops, and had a craving for scallops "with cream". The directive was for cream with mushrooms, and my reaction was 'ew'. So I attempted New England clam chowder - with scallops instead of clams. I think it turned out quite well.

This is what I did, based upon elsa peterson-schepelern's "Soups" book.

250g frozen scallops
water to suit (125ml fish stock - I used beef stock powder)
Dried chinese shrimp
1/3 can of spam (preferrably 500g smoked pancetta or bacon!)
3 small onions, diced
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 carrot chopped
2 bay leaves
a few small potatoes, cubed
1 patty butter (10g?)
1 tablespoon flour
250mL warm milk
parsley bunch, coarsely chopped to serve.

Put scallops in large pot, add bay leaves, carrot, celery, potatoes, pepper, shrimp. Add water/stock to suit. 1.5L or so. Simmer for 10 minutes (when the potatoes are cooked).

Meanwhile fry up the cubed spam until 'crunchy' , or the sides have seared.

Instead of adding cream, I made up a roux, so this could be reheated later without separating.

1 tablespoon of flour, and butter, melt together. Add warm milk. Stir constantly to prevent it clumping. When it goes 'thick', add the roux to the soup.

Serve with chopped parsley and spam/pancetta/bacon on top. Garlic rubbed toast on the side.