Creamy Southern Seafood Or Fish Chowder - cooking recipe

Ingredients

2 large onions, diced fine
1 ham hocks or 3 slices bacon
1/2 cup wheat flour or 1/2 cup white flour
4 cups diced potatoes, diced small (I used white new potatoes, but peeled Russets or red potatoes will work)
1/2 cup butter (olive oil will work, though heat slowly with flour)
2 small carrots, diced small
8 ounces frozen corn
1 bay leaf
3 celery ribs, diced small
3 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 lb tilapia fillet, cubed bite sized
1/2 lb shrimp, pealed and deveined
1/2 lb salmon fillet, skin and bones removed (use any combination of seafood you like, so that it adds up to about 2 lbs, clams and scallops would)
2 cups soymilk or 2 cups milk
1 cup vegetable stock (fish or chicken stock can be substituted)
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning

Preparation

Cook ham hock, bacon or salt pork until some fat is rendered, and then remove meat. Salt pork is more traditionally New England, but I just wanted a little smokey pork fat in my dish so I went with the ham hock.
Pour off as much fat as you like and add butter or olive oil.
In large pot add stock, milk, ham hock, bay leaves, pepper, thyme, Old Bay, salt and diced potatoes and bring to a simmer. If using bacon or salt pork, you can wait to add until the end.
Sprinkle flour over butter and mix until light yellow (blonde) in color and flour is lightly cooked.
Add onions, carrots and celery to roux and cook down for about 15 minutes until onions have lost a lot of their water and carrots are soft. The mixture should be quite thick, and will need to be stirred frequently at medium high heat.
Add garlic to onion mixture and cook for a few more minutes.
Once potatoes are starting to soften, but are not yet done, add onion and carrot mixture and stir.
Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat to medium to simmer. At this point of the mixture looks too thick you can add some more vegetable stock. I like to taste at this point to adjust salt etc. as well.
Mix in corn and cook until corn is warmed.
Add seafood mixture to pot and mix in lightly.
Add cream and cheese and mix in until just smooth.
At this point turn the pot to low or medium low, and as soon as the seafood is cooked it's ready to eat.
This is definitely better the next day or after it's sat for a while, so you can leave it on a very low heat for a few hours or stick it in the fridge and reheat on the stove slowly the next day.
You can remove the ham hock, or pull some of the meat off of it and add it inches.
Serving it up with some crusty bread was perfect!