Thinking Chowder? Try an Iberian-Inspired Soup.

[elleng]

'Publishing a new recipe for chowder seems like asking for trouble, since everyone has a different idea about what makes a true chowder.

But on a recent drizzly, almost-cool day, I found myself fantasizing about a soup chock-full of potatoes and some sort of fish. It would be more Portuguese or Spanish than New England, inspired by some of the salt cod and potato stews I have encountered along the Iberian Peninsula. It probably wouldn’t really qualify as a chowder anyway, and wouldn’t appeal to outspoken purists. I didn’t plan to use milk or butter, nor would there be oyster crackers in the picture.

No, this soup would have chorizo, onions, leeks and potatoes. As for fish, I planned to use something smoked.

What resulted was warming, homey and very tasty. The only ingredient I had to leave the house for was a chunk of smoked sablefish. Really, almost any kind of smoked fish could be used: whitefish, sturgeon, haddock, even eel or smoked mussels.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/dining/potato-soup-chorizo-smoked-fish-recipe.html?

[uppityperson]

1. When they say chorizo, they mean the Euro kind that is more of a dried salami than what

I get here which is softer, unshaped, right?

That sounds wonderful!

[LiberalEsto]

2. Sounds like caldo verde with fish instead of white beans

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

3. About 30 years ago, I was visiting Umbria, and was asked to make an American dish

So I got some clam-like shellfish -- what the Italians call vongole -- potatoes, cream and pancetta and made a New England style clam chowder. It was a really big hit.

[Retrograde]

4. When I was growing up, clam chowder was usually Manhattan style

made with tomatoes rather than cream. I had some at a small diner south of Buffalo this summer - I'd forgotten how good it can be, and how light compared to the New England variety (omnipresent, these days, but more often than not thickened with flour and generally mediocre).

My new current favorite, though, is Rhode Island style: similar to Manhattan in that it doesn't have much dairy, but with no tomatoes - leaning towards the version described in the OP.