I wanted to make something with the frozen calamari rings that I bought the other day and I didn’t want to fry them.  Looking around the internet, I found an idea at about.com that I thought I could work with.   Unfortunately, I woke up this morning with a severe case of “c’est moi qui le fait!” which loosely translated means,  “I’M doing this!”

To the market I went, pretty much shopping for the ingredients recommended by the recipe at about.com.   Understandably, I opted for the fresh tomatoes rather than the canned, a spicier onion, more garlic; just little things.  I was completely in agreement with the scotch bonnet but instead of one, I bought two.

Lots of beautiful vegetables in the market today.   The red potatoes were especially fetching.  I’ve got to find something to make with fennel!   This is the season and I love a cucumber fennel salad,  but I want to branch out.

Anyway,  peppers, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, bacon, a little butter, how could you go wrong?  I’ll tell you how.

The recipe called for the scotch bonnet to be enclosed in a tied cheesecloth pouch with the herbs and cooked in the chowder like that.  I didn’t do that.   I dumped everything directly in the pot.  I did remove the scotch bonnet seeds and I only used one scotch bonnet, thank the lord.   The chowder is excellent but truly, truly spicy.

For the original recipe go here:   http://homecooking.about.com/od/soups/r/blss178.htm. If you are looking for a thrill:

C’est Moi Qui le Fait Calamari Chowder

2lb frozen calamari rings

1/2 cup bacon, diced

1 tbsp butter

2 large ribs of celery, diced

2 large carrots, peeled and diced

1 large onion, diced

1 large bell pepper, diced

3 large cloves of garlic, chopped

1 scotch bonnet, seeded and chopped

1 teaspoon of dried thyme

1 teaspoon of dried oregano

1 large bay leaf

1/2 tsp each; pepper, ground cloves, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg

1 tsp salt

4 cups of fish stock

1 lb of tomatoes, pureed

2 tbsp of tomato paste

2 tbsp of lime juice

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1lb of red potatoes, peeled and diced.