Fish Chowder

 

We're at a funny time of year here in England. The days are getting longer and everywhere there are signs of summer, but temperatures have been quite cool in recent weeks. My body is telling me though that it's time for eating lighter foods - chicken, and fish, and loads of salads. But the cool evenings tell me it's still a time for soups and stews and other warming foods.

I decided to listen to both these internal messages and made a delicious seafood chowder for our dinner one night.

I like dishes that are versatile - ones that can be altered to fit what is in season, and what is in your fridge, and that can be put together without a lot of fuss and bother. This recipe ticks all my boxes.

You too can cook up this seafood chowder in under 30 minutes.

Seafood Chowder

Ingredients:

2 rashers smoked streaky bacon, chopped (or 100gm lardons)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 pints chicken or vegetable stock
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch dice
1 pack fish pie mix (an assortment of cod, haddock, and salmon pieces)
1 bay leaf
1 pack seafood mix (prawns, mussels, and squid)
Seasonal vegetables, cooked and cut into bite-size pieces



1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 generous dash Tabasco sauce
1 pint milk
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Cut the bacon into pieces and cook until browned in a heavy-bottomed pot  (I recommend the SKK stew pot)
2. Add a tablespoon of olive oil if needed, then add the chopped onions and carrots and cook until softened. 
3. Now pour in the 2 pints stock and bring up to a boil.
4. Add the diced potatoes and cook for 10 minutes.
5. Reduce heat to a simmer, add in the fish and the bay leaf and let it cook for 5 minutes. 
6. Add the pre-cooked mixed seafood and let simmer a further 5 minutes. 
7. Reduce the heat and add in the remaining ingredients. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 
8. Bring up to heat without boiling before serving. (Boiling milk can cause it to curdle, especially if you are using fat-free)

Serve with crusty bread and butter or oyster crackers, if desired. 

Seasonal vegetables: The image I have used has corn as it's vegetable and that is a very traditional addition to many chowders. This time I happened to use green beans and asparagus because that is what was in my fridge, but the next time I may use something completely different.

Fish and seafood: Likewise, you can use any fish to make this dish. I happen to buy the fish pie packs because they are cheaper but also provide a bit more variety than buying a whole fillet of a single fish.

This recipe made 4 generous servings.


Above image by Rootology (Own work by uploader (cooking by uploader, too)) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Cooking Kedgeree

A traditional British kedgeree

Kedgeree is one of many traditional British foods that had its origins in India and entered the British food menu during the colonial Victorian Age at a time when Anglo-Indian cuisine was fashionable. It is also, traditionally, a breakfast food made by using up leftovers from the evening before. I think it makes a good evening meal as well.

A "real" kedgeree also traditionally uses smoked haddock and no other fish. I improvise by adding mixed seafood and a selection of fish.

The other night, my youngest son asked if we could have seafood risotto for dinner. I didn't have any risotto rice however, so I created my version of a kedgeree instead.

Ingredients:

• 2 slices bacon, cut into pieces
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 finely chopped onion
• 2 sliced leeks
• 1/2 savoy cabbage, chopped
• 1 cup brown rice
• 300gm smoked fish (I use a pre-packed mix of smoked cod, haddock, and salmon)
• 150gm mixed seafood (again a pre-packed mix of prawns, squid, and mussels)
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 pinch chilli flakes
• 1/8 - 1/2teaspoon chilli powder (to taste)
• 500ml vegetable stock
• 2 hard-boiled eggs, diced
• salt and pepper to taste

Method: 

1. I started by trimming the cabbage and leek. I then used these trimmings along with a couple small carrots to make a quick and simple vegetable stock. To save time, and washing up, I added the two eggs to the pot of water while it was simmering to give me my hard-boiled eggs. 
2. Heat the olive oil in a deep stew pot, add the bacon and cook until just beginning to crisp. Add in the prepared onion, leek, and cabbage. Add in a couple ladles of stock, then leave to simmer for about 5 - 10 minutes until the vegetables are all softened. 
3. Add in the rice and spices and stir to get everything combined. Pour in half the stock. Bring it up to a boil, reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. 
4. Add in the fish and seafood, then let it simmer another 10 minutes. 
5. Taste and adjust seasoning and heat as desired. 
6. Just before serving, peel and quarter the hard-boiled egg and stir into the dish. 

It can be eaten hot, or cold. I made up extra and packed the leftovers away for my lunch today.

As as evening meal, kedgeree remains a good way of using up any leftovers from the night before. You can add any vegetables you want along with bite-size pieces of any leftover chicken, fish, or pork. 

If you're looking for a more traditional kedgeree recipe, why not try this one from Delia Smith.

Fish Chowder Made Easy

Do you ever have one of those days when you look at what you have on hand and think "What on earth can I make using that?" Well, so do I.

This week, the mystery ingredient is fish. Now, normally I would make a fish pie or a seafood risotto, but I didn't really want to spend that much time on cooking and besides I forgot to buy any risotto rice this week.

October weather has been quite mild this year, but come evening time temperatures are starting to dip, making this an ideal time of year to start having soups.

And there is my inspiration, I decided to make a fish chowder. A quick check in my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook just to see how they did their clam chowder, and to get an idea on how much milk they use and what herbs or flavourings they add.

This is what I came up with.

Fish chowder

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 slices bacon, chopped
• 4 medium potatoes,diced
• 1 large onion, diced 
• 1 pack seafood selection (prawns, mussels, and squid)
• 1 pack fish pie mix
• Dried thyme
• Dried parsley
• Worcester sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste, but start with about 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 cups water
• Vegetable stock cube
• 2 heaped teaspoons corn flour (corn starch)
• 2 cup skimmed milk

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed stewing pot. Add the chopped bacon and cook until crispy.
2. Add in the potatoes, onion, packs of seafood and fish, and stir to mix. Add in the dried herbs, worcester sauce, salt and pepper, water, and vegetable stock. Stir. Bring up to a boil then reduce heat. Leave to simmer about 10 - 15 minutes, until the fish is cooked and potatoes are soft. Uing the back of a wooden spoon, smash some of the cooked potato into the side of the pot and stir back into the soup.
3. Stir 2 heaped spoonfuls corn flour(corn stach) with 2 cups skimmed milk and pour in. Taste and adjust seasoning. Bring back up to a simmer and stir 1 - 2 minutes until it begins to thicken.

Serve with slices of buttered bread.

Langoustines, scallops, and salmon

When I go grocery shopping I make a point of stopping where all the discounted meats and fish are placed each day, just to see if I can find any good deals.

Langoustines

Today I found 2 discounted seafood items, scallops and langoustines. Scallops I've had many times and absolutely love.

I've never tried langoustine though. While it is sometimes called a Dublin Bay Prawn, it is actually a type of lobster. It can be found in the waters around Scotland but until recent years the majority of the catch was actually sold and eaten in France and other parts of Europe.

I've started seeing it at the fish counter in the past few years, but have always passed it over for more familiar seafood. When I found it today though it seemed the perfect time to try this seafood for myself.

After looking at various recipes and ideas on how to cook a langoustine, I decided to do something very simple. The result was this dish.

Langoustine in a creamy garlic butter over pasta

Langoustine in a creamy garlic butter sauce over pasta

 

 Pictured here served with salmon fillet and scallops

Serves 2
Cooking time: less than 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 slices streaky bacon, cut into pieces
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoon crushed garlic
• 4 spring onions, cut into thin rings
• tails of 6 langoustine, removed from shell and cut into 1/2 - 1 inch pieces
• 4 tablespoon creme fraiche
• salt and pepper to taste
• cooked spaghetti

Method

1. Remove shells from langoustine tails, rinse and cut into bite-size pieces. 
2. Heat the oil and butter in a saute pan, add the bacon and cook until it begins to crisp. 
3. Add in the garlic and spring onions, and cook until the onions begin to soften. 
4. Add the langoustine pieces, let cook 4 - 5 minutes turning occasionally. 
5. Let simmer another 4 - 5 minutes. 
6. Add in 4 tablespoons creme fraiche, season to taste. 
7. Toss in cooked pasta (I used spaghetti)



Really enjoying his dinner

8. Serve hot

I cooked the salmon fillets and the scallops in the same garlic butter but removed those from the pan before adding the creme fraiche to make a creamy sauce.

My youngest son loved this dish and gave it two very enthusiastic thumbs up.

Seafood Risotto

Seafood risotto

Risotto takes a bit of time, and you have to stay right by the cooker the whole time, but the process for cooking a risotto is really not that complicated. Risotto can be made using nearly any type of meat, or as a vegetarian dish.

My favourite risotto though is the Seafood Risotto, made using fish and a mix of shellfish like prawns, calimari, and mussels.

To keep costs down, I often buy a pack of mixed fish that has been packed for use in fish pies. For a special treat though or when it is on sale, I will pick up a fillet of undyed, smoked haddock and poach it.

Poaching smoked haddock

I do this in the oven.  

Rule of thumb:

• If the fish has been smoked, poach it in milk
• If the fish has not been smoked, poach it in water.

Smoked haddock

When buying smoked haddock, look for fish with firm flesh. Try to find smoked haddock which has not been dyed. The dying process adds nothing to the flavour and gives an unsightly orange colour to the fish.

1 large smoked haddock fillet
few whole black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
pinch salt
milk to cover

Trim the thin outer edges from the haddock fillets to use with the fish stock. Carefully check the fillet for bones and remove using a pair of tweezers. If you have a fishmonger, you can ask him to remove the bones for you.

Place the fillets, peppercorns, bay leaf and salt in an ovenproof dish. Pour over enough milk to just cover the fish.

Cover lightly with a piece of foil or some greaseproof (kitchen parchment) paper.

Place in a moderately hot oven (Gas mark 4) for about 20 minutes.

Once cooked, remove the fillet from the milk and remove the skin.

The milk, once cooled and strained, could be mixed with diced chicken and cooked rice to feed your pet. Or, pour it over your plants to give them a really good feed. 

To make the risotto

You will need: 

1 tbsp olive oil
2 slices smoked back bacon, chopped
1 large leek, chopped into rings
350g (12 oz) risotto rice
1 glass white wine (optional)
1.7 litres (3 pints) stock, simmering
250g (1/2 pound) king prawns, or mied seafood
1 cup frozen peas
2 smoke haddock fillets, poached in milk, or 300gm fish pie mix
55g (2 oz) Parmesan, freshly grated
30g (1 oz) butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Cooking method:

Use a heavy saucepan, big enough to contain the rice plus the liquid. Heat the oil and slowly cook the bacon in this. Once cooked down, add the leeks and peas and cook until softened.

Increase the heat, then add the rice. Turn the rice with a wooden spoon. You start to add the boiling stock when the rice is well and truly impregnated with oil and starts to stick to the bottom of the pan. Add the glass of wine, if using, and stir until nearly absorbed. Then begin adding only a ladleful of boiling stock at a time. Continue to stir and add the stock once the previous ladle is nearly completely absorbed until the rice appears to be cooked (after 20 - 25 minutes). Add the prawns and mixed fish 5 minutes before the rice finishes cooking if raw. Add the prawns after the rice has finished cooking if using cooked prawns.

Remove the pan from the heat. Add the butter and parmesan and cover. Without stirring, let the rice absorb the last of the liquid for about 5 minutes. The risotto should have a creamy consistency, but the grains should still be firm to the bite (al dente). Just before serving, stir everything in together.

This last operation is called 'mantecare', possibly from the Spanish 'manteca' which means 'fat'. Take a bite and add seasoning to suit your taste. Serve straight away.


Risotto image by Tamorlan (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Savoury Fish Pie

After a meat pie, I think a fish pie is one of my ultimate comfort foods. I found this recipe from one of Anthony Worrall Thompson's cookbook. To save money, I buy a pack of fish pieces that contain a mix of smoked and unsmoked haddock, cod, and salmon instead of a whole fillet, and a pack of mixed seafood that generally contains prawns, mussels, and squid.

Fish pie with a chive mash

Anthony Worrall Thompson's Ultimate Fish Pie

You will need: 

450 ml Milk
1 x Bay leaf
Few black peppercorns
1 sm Onion, roughly chopped
1 kg White fish fillets, such as cod, coley, pollack or ling ( I use a non-dyed smoked haddock)
175 gm Cooked peeled large prawns
4 Tablespoons Chopped fresh herbs, (parsley, chives, chervil, or tarragon)
100 gm butter
2 large Shallots, finely chopped
175 gm Button mushrooms, sliced (I usually leave these out)
50 gm Plain flour
150 ml Double cream (thick cream)
1/4 x Lemon, pips removed
1 kg Potatoes, cut into chunks
2 Tablespoons Wholegrain mustard
Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

1 Place the milk in a saute pan with the bay leaf, peppercorns and onion. Bring to a simmer and cook gently for a couple of minutes.

2 Set aside for at least 10 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse.
Add the fish to the infused milk and poach for 5 minutes or until just tender. Remove from the heat and leave to cool, then lift out the fish and roughly flake the flesh, discarding any skin and bone.

3 Place the fish in a large bowl with the prawns and herbs. Strain the poaching milk into a jug. Melt half the butter in a pan and fry the shallots for 5 minutes to soften.

4 Add the mushrooms and cook for a few minutes until tender, then stir in the flour and cook for a minute or so, stirring constantly.
Remove from the heat and gradually add the poaching milk. Season, return to the heat and simmer for a few minutes. Keep stirring until thickened.

5 Stir in half of the cream and add a good squeeze of lemon, then fold into the fish mixture and season. Pour into a buttered 25cm/10in pie dish and set aside to allow a skin to form.

Allow a skin to form

6 Place the potatoes in a pan of boiling salted water, cover and cook for 15-20 minutes until tender. Drain, return to the pan to dry out and then mash until smooth.

7 Beat in the remaining butter and cream and the mustard. Season to taste. Carefully spread over the fish mixture and pull a fork across the top to make a wavy-line pattern. Bake for 30-40 minutes until bubbling and lightly golden. Serve hot with a big spoonful of peas.

Cooked fish pie