FLOWER POT KITCHEN: CHOWDER SMOKED HADDOCK BEST EVER

27 Jan 2020

CHOWDER SMOKED HADDOCK BEST EVER

Simple yet decedent

This I try ! to only allow myself to indulge a couple of times a year but personally I want to fall face first into this decadently sumptuously gorgeous I can’t move for the rest of the day awesome creamy naturally oak smoked haddock corn and potato chowder, my taste buds and heart say it’s worth the next few hours of my groaning belly telling me off for eating a greedy to big a portion followed by a further week of no zip up jeans, this should tell me otherwise but I don’t want to listen as my taste buds rule mind over matter!

Prep time 10 mins / Cooking time 20-30 minutes

Ingredients

(serves 4 or a greedy 2)

1 onion finely diced

1/2 onion peeled whole

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic finely diced

3 King Edward potatoes small diced

1 can sweet corn in water

1 ltr whole milk

5 whole black peppercorns

1 bay leaf

1 kg naturally oak smoked haddock

1 ltr chicken stock (homemade recipe below)

500ml double cream

1/2 tsp turmeric

2 tbsp fresh chopped flat leaf parsley

Himalayan sea salt

Fresh ground black pepper

First in a pan on a medium heat melt the butter and olive oil, add the diced onion and one of the garlic gloves diced, soften without colouring for around five minutes, then add the diced potatoes and sweet corn with juice, leave to gently soften. Meanwhile bring the milk up to almost a simmer, tiny hint of bubbles no more than that. Add the other garlic clove. Whole half of onion, bay leaf and peppercorns, then place the haddock in to gently poach the fish for around five minutes until just cooked and flaking, remove the haddock from the poaching milk.

Sieve the cooking liquor (milk) and reserve to one side. Add the chicken stock to the cooking corn and potatoes, then the double cream, stir in then add the turmeric and some of the reserved cooking milk, this is for extra smoked haddock flavour and for the thickness of your chowder, for a thinner chowder add more milk. Bring to a simmer for a few minutes then season with salt and pepper to taste, flake in the cooked haddock and finish with fresh parsley.

No comments:

LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.