A chowder is the easiest way to make a little fish feed a lot of people. The smoked cod does most of the flavouring, it carries the broth, and a cheaper firm white fish bulks it out. The two things to get right are gentleness and salt: keep the pot at a bare simmer so the milk doesn’t catch and the fish doesn’t break up, and go easy on the salt because the smoked fish and the pancetta both bring their own.
Yield and time
- Makes: serves 4
- Hands-on: 15 minutes
- Total: about 45 minutes
Ingredients
- 120g pancetta, diced (or 6 rashers, snipped)
- 20g butter
- 1 brown onion, diced
- 1 stick celery, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons plain flour
- 500g waxy potatoes (Nicola or Dutch cream), in 1.5cm dice
- 400ml fish or chicken stock
- 300ml full-cream milk
- 200ml cream
- 1 cup sweetcorn (a drained 310g can, or frozen)
- 1 bay leaf and a few sprigs of thyme
- 300g smoked cod, skinned and cut into 3cm chunks
- 300g firm white fish, ling, hoki or basa, skinned and cut into 3cm chunks
- chopped parsley, black pepper, a wedge of lemon
- salt, but taste first
Smoked cod lives in the Woolworths seafood cabinet; smoked haddock works just as well if you find it. If you can’t get either, use all white fish and a little more salt, you’ll lose some of the smoky backbone but it’s still a fine chowder.
Render the pancetta
Tip the pancetta into a cold heavy pot and bring it up over a medium heat, stirring, until the fat runs and the pieces go crisp and golden, about 6 minutes. Scoop them out onto paper and leave the fat behind.
Build the base
Add the butter to the pancetta fat, then the onion and celery with a pinch of salt. Soften for 8 minutes without colouring, then stir in the garlic for a minute.
Sprinkle over the flour and stir for a minute or two to cook it out. Pour in the stock a little at a time, stirring each addition smooth before the next. Add the potatoes, bay and thyme, bring to a simmer, and cook for about 12 minutes until the potatoes are nearly tender.
The dairy and the fish
Pour in the milk and cream and add the corn. Bring it back to a bare simmer, a few lazy bubbles, no more. A hard boil will catch on the bottom and can split the milk.
Lower the fish chunks in and poach gently for 4-5 minutes, until they flake at a nudge. Don’t stir hard or the fish breaks up; just shoogle the pot. Fish out the bay and thyme stems.
Finish
Taste, and only now decide on salt, the smoked fish and pancetta may have done the job. Plenty of black pepper, a small squeeze of lemon to lift it. Ladle into bowls, scatter the crisp pancetta and parsley over the top, and serve with thick slices of crusty bread for dragging through it.