Tasty Tuesday: Southwest Shrimp and Corn Chowder

Last week at work, my co-workers and I got into a debate about the use of seafood in Mexican dishes.  Several of them were convinced that you should never mix seafood with tortillas and cheese.  I completely disagree!  Obviously they have never had themselves a good shrimp fajita or a flavorable fish taco.  All the talk about Mexican and seafood inspired me to make something southwest this weekend.  The below chowder recipe is scrumptious, especially paired with cheesy quesadillas.

Southwest Shrimp and Corn Chowder:

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped serrano chile (about 1 small)
1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles, undrained
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
1 1/2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups frozen Southern-style hash brown potatoes, diced, thawed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 (15.25-ounce) can whole-kernel corn with red and green peppers, drained
1 pound peeled and deveined small shrimp
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation

1. Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onions, bell pepper, and serrano chile to pan; sauté 2 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Add canned chiles to pan; cook 1 minute. Add flour to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in milk and next 5 ingredients (through corn); bring to a boil. Cook 5 minutes or until slightly thick. Stir in shrimp; cook 1 minute or until shrimp are done. Remove from heat; stir in cilantro.

Quesadillas: Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Place 2 (6-inch) flour tortillas in pan. Top each tortilla with 2 1/2 tablespoons preshredded reduced-fat Mexican blend cheese, 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped green onions, and 1 tablespoon chopped pickled jalapeño peppers. Cook 1 minute or just until cheese melts and tortilla is toasted. Arrange 1 (6-inch) flour tortilla over top of each quesadilla. Flip quesadillas; cook 30 seconds. Cut each quesadilla into 6 wedges, and serve with a small bowl of salsa.

Nutritional Information  Calories:212 Fat:6.7g (sat 3.4g,mono 1.5g,poly 0.7g) Protein:19.3g Carbohydrate:18.3g Fiber:2.2g Cholesterol:130mg Iron:2.5mg Sodium:702mg Calcium:131mg

Laura Zapalowski, Cooking Light, APRIL 2009