High Tide Bake

Time :1 20

Yield :6 servings

Recipe Background

Grab your nets and get ready to do some fishing! The tide's come in and with it, all the delicious bounty the ocean has to offer! Actually, that sounds like a lot of work. Maybe we can instead enjoy the delicious bounty of the sea from the comfort of our own kitchen? Maybe with something like the High Tide Bake?! Oh yeah, everything is coming together! The filling of this casserole is a creamy, savory, and slightly summery shrimp chowder with crispy bits of bacon mixed within; already we're off to a scrumptious start! Then the top is a flaky, buttery herb biscuit! Can things get much better than they already are with High Tide Bake? Only by eating it near the shore, enjoying the beauty of the waves from a comfortable distance!

Ingredients

For the shrimp chowder:

4 slices bacon chopped
6 scallions sliced
1 fennel bulb cored and chopped
4 cloves garlic chopped
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups chicken stock
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cups frozen corn kernels thawed
1 tablespoon fresh dill chopped
kosher salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 pound medium shrimp peeled, deveined, and coarsely chopped

For the biscuits:

1 1/4 cups self-rising flour spooned and leveled
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley chopped
1 tablespoon fresh dill chopped
1 scallion chopped
1/4 cup unsalted butter chilled
1/2 cup buttermilk

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Lightly grease a 2-quart baking dish.
Cook the bacon slices in a large saucepan over medium heat until they are crisp, about 4-6 minutes.
Transfer the cooked bacon slices using a slotted spoon to a paper-towel-lined plate, reserving the drippings in the pan.
Add 6 of the sliced scallions, the fennel, and the garlic to the bacon drippings and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until they are tender, about 3-4 minutes.
Sprinkle the all-purpose flour over the scallion mixture and cook, whisking constantly, until the raw flour smell disappears, about 1 minute.
Gradually whisk the chicken stock and the heavy cream into the scallion mixture, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the saucepan.
Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until it has thickened, about 4-6 minutes.
Stir the cooked bacon, the corn, 1 tablespoon of the dill, the salt, and the pepper into the shallot mixture.
Transfer the saucepan from the heat and stir in the shrimp.
Combine the self-rising flour, the baking powder, the parsley, the remaining dill, and the remaining scallion in a bowl.
Cut the unsalted butter with two forks or a pastry blender into the dough mixture until it is crumbly.
Add the buttermilk to the dough mixture and stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened.
Transfer the shrimp mixture to the prepared baking dish.
Drop the biscuit dough over the mixture, forming about 8-9 biscuits.
Bake until the biscuits are golden-brown, about 30-35 minutes.
Let the casserole stand for 10 minutes.
Serve.