Welcome to Clubhouse Eats, where we celebrate the game’s most delectable food and drink. Hope you brought your appetite.
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Anyone who has visited Ireland has likely come away with the same revelations: the golf is incredible, the scenery magical, and the soup? Out of this world. Okay, maybe that’s just me. But the thick texture and robust flavor of Irish soups is so different from what I can get at home that I always look forward to ordering whatever is on the menu.
And that goes double for chowder of all descriptions. While visiting Ireland this summer, if I saw a seafood chowder on the menu, it was ordered right away. Even my picky kids became fans. With the fall season fast approaching, and the pros taking on the K Club just outside of Dublin for this week’s Irish Open on the DP World World Tour, now seems like the perfect time to highlight this hearty and flavorful dish.
At Ireland’s Dromoland Castle — a five-star luxury hotel with a stellar parkland golf course located 206 km (approximately 128 miles) southwest of the K Club, seafood chowder has been a menu mainstay for more than two decades.
“Just can’t take it off the menu,” says executive head chef David McCann. “It would cause a riot!”
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While seafood chowder is widely available at many Irish restaurants, McCann said Dromoland’s proximity to the Atlantic Ocean is a difference-maker for the Castle’s iteration.
“Dromoland Castle is along the Wild Atlantic Way, therefore, we have all the ingredients on our doorstep,” he says.
Another way McCann sets Dromoland’s chowder apart, though, is by imbuing it with a rich, thick texture.
“Our chowder is a leek and potato base, hence it has substance and not just cream,” he says. “White wine gives the chowder a depth of flavor, and lemon cuts the richness to finish.”
McCann recommends pairing the chowder with a creamy pint of stout or a crisp and dry white wine. And of course, a side of freshly-baked Irish brown soda bread.
If sitting hearthside with a bowl of chowder at Dromoland Castle isn’t in your immediate future, McCann was gracious enough to share the recipe. Give it a try at home for the perfect comfort meal this fall.
Dromoland Castle Seafood Chowder
4 portions
Ingredients:
-Leek and Potato Soup for base
-3/4 cup raw fish (cod, salmon, monkfish, halibut)
-4 scallops
-8 prawns (cooked)
-2/3 cup mussels (cooked)
-1 tsp chopped parsley
-1 tsp chopped chives
-3.4 oz white wine
-3.4 oz cream
-1/4 cup butter
-Squeeze of lemon
Method:
Bring the leek and potato soup to the boil, check the seasoning. The soup should be of a thick consistency.
Place the wine and butter in a medium sized pot, bring to the boil and reduce by half, add the cream and return to the boil.
Add the raw fish and simmer for 30 seconds, next add the cooked fish and scallops and warm through.
