Ingredients: Serves 2

1 ½ cups fish stock (I used 1 ½ TBSPs of dried hon dashi for 2 cups of water)
2 skinny carrots, sliced to 1 inch and them quartered
¼ red bell pepper, chopped
2 celery stalks, roughly diced
1 leek, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 cup Blue Moon wheat beer
1 cup heavy cream
1 frozen salmon fillet 4” x 4”
6 frozen shrimp, with shells
1 frozen cod fillet, 4” x 4”
8 ounces clams, with shells
3 TBSPs olive/butter

Cut leek ends and leave 1 inch green stalk. Slice it in half long ways then cross cut. Put in a bowl of water and gently rinse with your hand. Leeks come with a lot of dirt inside. Set aside in a bowl. Cut the celery and add it to the leeks. In another bowl skin and cut the potato into squares and cover in water so as not to brown the potato. During the soup process I will actually use an immersion blender to blend all these items into a fine thick puree.

In another pot add 1 ½ Tbsps. of hon dashi to 2 cups water. The recipe calls for fish stock but there is no better fish stock in my opinion than hon dashi which is Japanese dried bonito. It has a superior ocean flavor – kind of salty, kind of mellow, used in most Japanese soups.

I add the cut carrots and cut red bell pepper to the stock as well as the frozen shrimp with its shells to add more seafood flavor and cook the shrimp on medium to low heat until it turns a solid pink. Remove with a tongs and add the frozen cod to the hon dashi. Cook 5 minutes and remove. Add the salmon and cook 5 minutes and remove. Add the mussels and cook 5 minutes then remove. Then strain the stock. Set aside the carrots and red bell pepper. Peel the shells off the shrimp, cut the fish into squares.

In a large sauce pan add 3 TBSPs of butter and melt. Add the leeks and celery. Sauté on medium low heat for ~20 minutes until the leeks are very tender. Drain the potatoes and add to the pot. Add 1 ½ cups of strained fish stock. Add 1 cup of Belgium wheat beer. Add 1 cup of heavy cream. Blend with an immersion blender. Add salt to taste. Add the seafood. Cook on very low 30 minutes.

Serve