Chowderlicious

[narya_flame]

I grew up in a nominally Catholic family, although my parents' attitude to their faith veers from relaxed (my Dad) to occasionally hostile (my Mum, who has never forgiven her local priest for refusing to marry her and Dad in the 80s, because they'd been “living in sin”). Even so, fish for dinner on Fridays was a tradition we kept to, and out of habit I've mostly stuck with it through university and my adult life. Often this meant fish and chips, but sometimes we would get a little fancier.

This is actually not a family recipe. This is my take on a smoked haddock chowder – I was having friends over for dinner one Friday night at uni, and I didn't trust their timekeeping enough to risk anything like pan-fried or oven-baked fish. Instead I opted for something that would happily sit on the stove doing its own thing until people had arrived and were ready to eat.

Most of the traditional chowder recipes I had access to required ingredients that were a little exotic for the shops of the East Fife coast in the late '00s (creamed corn? Jarred clams? Saltines? Forget it!) so I substituted things in as best I could, and ended up with something so astonishingly delicious that my squad of friends immediately demanded the recipe. I had to confess I didn't have one, and that I'd been improvising – but I've recreated and refined it several times down the years, and it's now my go-to for feeding a crowd, or for treating myself and my hubby after a long week. (Confession: I've been known to eat the leftovers for breakfast.)

This, if you like, is the “final” version. In terms of influences it's taken a few detours via Scotland, France and the Deep South (my French uncle taught me that everything is better with wine, my godmother in Georgia is responsible for the addition of cayenne pepper, and I lifted the leeks from traditional cullen skink) – but despite the culinary mish-mash going on, it's never failed me yet, and it's easy to scale up or down as needed.

 

 

Spiced Smoked Haddock Chowder (serves 4-6, with bread for dunking)

 

Chop up 6 rashers of smoked streaky bacon and fry in a heavy bottomed saucepan or cast iron casserole dish until crispy. (If oil is needed – which it probably will be unless the pan is non-stick – my perfect-world option is smoked rapeseed oil, but given that this isn't something most people keep in their cupboards, a tablespoon of any neutral oil or even a blob of lard will work absolutely fine.)

Lift out the crispy bacon pieces with a slotted spoon, pat off the excess fat with kitchen paper, and put aside.

Turn the heat down low, and melt 25g butter into the bacon fat remaining in the pan. Add a finely sliced white onion, stir to coat, and cook gently for 5 minutes or so, or until the onion begins to turn translucent. Add four finely sliced garlic cloves, and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.

At this point, add one heaped teaspoon of smoked sweet paprika, half a teaspoon of cayenne, and several generous grinds of black pepper. Stir to coat the alliums in the spices. Add one finely sliced leek, stir through, cover, and leave to sweat for 5 minutes or so.

While the leeks cook, slice two medium carrots and 500g waxy potatoes into pieces about the thickness of a £1 coin. Stir into the spiced allium mixture, and cook gently for a few minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

When the vegetables have started to soften slightly in the spice mixture, turn the heat up to medium-high (don't panic if you end up with a few crispy bits stuck to the bottom, you're about to de-glaze the pan!), pour in a generous glass of dry white wine (about 200 ml) and allow to bubble for a couple of minutes. Next, pour in 1 litre of stock (vegetable, chicken or fish are all fine, and this is not a recipe where I get snobby about fresh stock – cubes do a perfectly fine job, as so much flavour comes from the other ingredients) and leave to cook uncovered on a medium heat for 40-45 minutes. (It shouldn't be at a rolling boil, more like a fast simmer.)

It's ready to move on when the vegetables are just covered by a layer of thick, reddish, bubbling liquid. At this point, turn the heat back down low, add 400g of skinned and boneless smoked haddock fillet, 600 ml pouring double cream, 2-3 bay leaves, and 400g tinned sweetcorn. Stir to combine, and cook on a low heat for approx. 30 minutes, stirring occasionally; the sauce will reduce down and thicken from the potato starch, and absorb the delicious sweet smoky fishy flavours. (A lot of chowder recipes require a roux, which as an inexperienced student cook I found a bit scary, so instead I relied on a long cooking time, thick cream and natural starches to get the right consistency, and I've never felt the need to swap.)

If the sauce gets too thick for your taste, or you feel there isn't enough sauce, you can always add a splash of milk, but this is supposed to be more of a substantial stew than a light soup.

At this point you can knock the heat off and warm the chowder back up whenever you're ready to serve. A few minutes before dishing up, gently warm the crispy bacon pieces along with the serving bowls in the oven. Ladle the chowder into the warmed bowls, scatter over the bacon pieces and a generous handful of chopped parsley, and serve with warm crusty bread and butter.

Comments

[mithrial]

Your visitors are so lucky.
That sounds delicious.

[narya_flame]

It is a favourite.

I can't wait until we can have visitors again 😆

[grundyscribbling]

Creamed corn was exotic? o_O

[narya_flame]

I have never seen creamed corn available for purchase in the UK - certainly not in St Andrews 😆 and my student kitchen wasn't as well equipped as my current one, so I had no blender to attempt a home-made version.

[spiced_wine]

that sounds absolutely gorgeous!

[narya_flame]

Thank you! 😊

[spiced_wine]

Silly question, but does it freeze? I love haddock; Kev is terrified of fish since he choked on a fishbone so never eats it, but I’d like to do this, if I can freeze some.

[narya_flame]

Yes! In theory you can freeze cream, but usually if I'm batch cooking this I freeze it before adding the cream :) then I defrost and stir through as much cream as I think it needs when re-heating.

[spiced_wine]

Thank you 🙏🏼