NEW ENGLAND SEAFOOD CHOWDER

SERVES 6

Like most recipes you find, particularly for classic dishes, the recipes will differ along the way, depending on where you look, this recipe is no different, but basically New England chowder is a chunky, creamy soup full of seafood and potatoes. You can make it with all clams to become a clam chowder but most will use a mixture of seafood like I’m doing today.

In my top tip below I’ll show you how to make a fantastic accompaniment for your chowder, another real taste of America. I’ll show you how to make fantastic corn bread which when served warm with butter makes the most amazing garnish for a bowl of New England seafood chowder.

• 1 potato peeled and diced
• 300g un-dyed smoked haddock fillets
• 1 shallot halved
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 rashers bacon chopped
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 900ml full-fat milk
• 40g unsalted butter
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves finely chopped
• 200g sweetcorn kernels
• 6 scallops sliced
• 24 cooked mussels
• 250g White fish (haddock, cod, hake, Pollack etc.) diced
• 200g raw king prawns
• 1 tbsp. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• Freshly ground black pepper

Place the smoked haddock in a pan with the bay leaf and shallot and cover with the milk. Bring to a simmer for a few minutes, then take off the heat and leave in the milk to finish cooking.

In a large pan, gently fry the onions, thyme and bacon in the butter until softened. Stir in the garlic, potato and sweetcorn.

Lift the haddock out of the milk with a slotted spoon, place on a plate then tear into pieces. Strain the milk through a sieve into the onion, bacon and potato mixture and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Add the cooked haddock, sliced scallops, mussels, white fish and the prawns and warm through for a few minutes then stir in the parsley and season with black pepper.