Recipes

Smoked haddock chowder

Clodagh McKenna
Sat Mar 7 2015 - 01:00
Serves: 6
Course: Starter
Cooking Time: 0 hr 30 mins
Ingredients
  • Serves 650g butter
  • 1 onion, finely diced
  • 1 leek, finely sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 100ml dry white wine
  • 500ml hot fish stock
  • 300ml milk
  • 300g potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 1kg undyed smoked haddock, skin removed and cut into small chunks
  • 250ml single cream
  • Chives, finely sliced, to garnish
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

This is the chowder recipe that I serve in my restaurants. I took it off the menu one season and there was such an uproar that I had to reprint the menus and put it back on. Yes, it’s that good: Irish smoked haddock swimming in rich cream, wine, leeks and garlic makes for a big pool of deliciousness that I would like to swim in daily. You could also add fresh mussels or cockles at the same time as the haddock.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Stir in the onion, leek and garlic. Reduce the heat, cover, and leave to sweat for five minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and add the wine. Return the pan to the heat and cook for a further 3-4 minutes. Pour in the stock, milk and potatoes, and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Stir in the haddock and cook for a further five minutes. Add the cream and chives, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook for a further five minutes, then serve in warmed bowls.

Clodagh's Irish Kitchen, by Clodagh McKenna, published by Kyle Books, March 12th, €25. Photography by Tara Fisher

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