Boat Race Chowder

So the traditional Oxford vs Cambridge boat race was accompanied by some traditional London weather. Described by the commentator as 'stunning', at my house it was cold and drizzly. So we gathered as many nautically themed wines and beers as we could find and made seafood chowder for our friends. We have made this chowder several times, based very loosely on a recipe in Food for Flatters, a New Zealand students' bible published by Edmonds. We were slightly more adventurous this time round, including baby squid and octopus in our chowder.




Pulling the octopus apart was a bit of a challenge as neither of us actually knew what we were doing (this was Chris' job - my finger is still broken and not really up to such fishy tasks). However, we (he) managed it without covering the kitchen in ink which can only be a good thing.

We also tried, for the first time, serving the chowder in a hollow bread loaf. In hindsight, it would have been more sensible to get several smaller loafs and use them as individual bowls rather than using one large loaf as a big serving dish. It looked relatively impressive but was perhaps a little pointless.



It did however open things up for fun with tentacles.


It tasted a lot better than it looks in the photos - I guess you'll have to trust me on that. Everyone was quite impressed. I remain unconvinced about the octopus - seemed quite rubbery and a bit tasteless to me.

Oxford won the boat race, despite my yelling for Cambridge. Cambridge is a nicer city in my opinion. We celebrated by drinking pretty much everything alcoholic in the house and playing ridiculous board games.