Charlie's Crab...

Anyone remember this resturant? There use to be one in Brookfield, at Brookfield Square. That was oh my god, more than 20 years ago. When we were in Fort Lauderdale a number of years back, I remember seeing one there too. I'm not sure if they're elsewhere, I just know that the one in Brookfield is gone. But they had the most kick ass seafood chowder. It was a manhattan style, in the tomato base rather than the cream base, and they would just use whatever fish they had on hand, scraps and bits that were not pretty enough to serve to the guests. But they wouldn't give me any more than that when I asked. So off and on I've been trying to recreate it. Here's my latest try.

32 oz Swanson's Organic Free Range chicken stock
32 oz jar of Classico Tomato and Basil sauce
1 c chianti
1/2 of a large onion chopped
6 cloves garlic minced
2 c chopped celery
3 carrots chopped up
6 in piece of daikon diced
1 c fresh string beans cut up
2 tsp prepared horseradish
2 tbsp sushi vinager
1 - 2 lbs assorted seafood, I used 16 oz bag of Sea Mazz seafood medley, 10 oz left over orange roughy, 4 oz salmon, a couple left over scallops (the salmon and scallops some will remember from sushi Saturday. Geekers and Keith got the left over tuna on Sunday as grilled steaks with key lime margarita butter sauce.)
Olive oil
Pepper to taste, I tend not to uses salt with seafood because of the residual salt in the fish from their habitat.

In a large kettle, heat some olive oil and sweat the onion and garlic till limp. Add the chicken stock, tomato sauce, and wine. Cook this down to about half to intensify. Add in the chopped up fish and cook until done. Turn the heat off and add everything else, horseradish, sushi vinager, vegies, and pepper. Cover and let sit to marry flavors and cool. Put in the fridge to finish marrying flavors, soup is always better the next day anyway.

Will let you know tomorrow night if its any good. I tasted it, and it's pretty damn tasty now, though the fish taste is really strong. I hope it will mellow a bit over night.