Smoked Haddock Chowder

Smoked Haddock Chowder

From The Hidden Hut by Simon Stallard

After a recent visit to Cornwall and a work trip to Ireland, I have enjoyed the most delicious Chowder in both places

This recipe is from Simon Stallard’s cook book The Hidden Hut. On a beach on the remote Roseland peninsula, this outdoor beach cafe is really an alfresco restaurant serving freshly made local produce and is an absolute gem

St Mawes Smoked Haddock Chowder

Ingredients:

400g smoked haddock with skin, pin-boned

1 bay leaf

1 litre whole milk

2 tbsp light olive oil

6 rashers smoked streaky bacon, sliced

50g butter

2 onions, diced

3 celery sticks, diced

1/2 fennel bulb, diced

4 garlic cloves, crushed

50g plain flour

400g waxy potatoes, peeled and diced

300ml fish stock

165g tinned sweetcorn

3 tbsp chopped dill fronds

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 spring onion, finely chopped as garnish

For the Croutons:

80g bread with crusts, cut into 1.5 cm cubes

2 tbsp olive oil

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C, (180 degrees C fan oven) gas mark 6

Make the croutons, spread out the bread on a baking tray and drizzle with the olive oil, add a light sprinkling of salt. Bake for a 3 minutes, toss and bake for another 3 mins so they bake evenly or until golden. Put on one side

Put the haddock in the milk in a roasting tray with the bay leaf. Cover with foil and bake for 12 minutes. Discard the bay leaf and remove the skin and flake the fish flesh into a bowl. Set aside and keep the cooking milk

Add the oil to a large saucepan and when really hot fry the bacon until golden and crispy. Turn the heat down and add the butter until it melts, add the onions, celery, fennel and garlic and sweat them until tender and translucent. Add the flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring to cook out the taste of the flour. Then, bit by bit, add the reserved cooking milk, stirring to make a thick sauce. Leave to cook over a low heat

Meanwhile put the potatoes into a saucepan with the fish stock and bring to the boil. Cook for 8 minutes then transfer the potatoes and stock to the gently simmering chowder base. Add the smoked haddock, sweetcorn, dill and lemon zest and juice and season to taste. Cook for 2 minutes to let all the flavours combine. Granish with the croutons and chopped spring onion and serve immediately