Categories Black Cod RecipesHalibut RecipesSeafood Recipes

Canadian Fish Chowder

The following recipe comes from The Mad Chemist a wonderful Canadian food blog, this is a heart and tasty chowder great for cooler weather.

With these dark, windy and rainy days turning into weeks until spring I love to have the goodness of soups stacked in my little handy containers in the freezer and a pot or two simmering on the stove. Today I made fish chowder. A West Coast ‘must’, I do believe everyone here has a special recipe tucked up their sleeve ….even this transplanted Prairie Girl. Its easy to make chowders using what veggies you have in your fridge to compliment the type of fish you chose. Using white fish like cod will ensure chunky fish pieces in your soup. If you are going to puree most of it…I would encourage using talipia or some other such soft fish as it won’t make a difference if it falls apart. Today I used cod and this is what I did today…….

WHAT I USED:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
5 bay leaves
pinch of dried parsely
pinch of salt and pepper
pinch of dried tarragon
pinch of dried basil
pinch of sage
two star anise
1 leek – chopped white and thinly sliced green
five stalks of celery including leaf (use inner stalks if you can) chopped
4 carrots thickly sliced
2 potatoes chopped
6 cups low sodium chicken broth (roughly – or use veggie, fish but NOT beef stock please)
2 fillets of white fish (cod, talipia etc.)
1/4 cup cream (optional)

Heat olive oil and butter over medium low heat in large soup pot. Add leeks and savory spices. Stir to coat and saute a wee bit …..just cause the aroma is sooooo intoxicating….grin! Add other veggies and stir to coat. Leave to soften over heat for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Add stock. Bring to a boil and then turn down low and simmer, covered, for about twenty minutes.

Place your two fillets on top of the veggies and stock. Add two star anise to stock and cover. Keep simmering (the fillets are steaming on top) for another ten or so minutes, until fillets are cooked through. Remove whole spices and ‘stir roughly’ allowing the fillets to break apart into pieces. Add cream and heat through. Serve and enjoy! If you wish a ‘creamier’ soup, you could puree a portion of the soup in a blender or using your hand held blender…pulse 1/4 of the soup into a creamy mixture.

Canadian Fish Chowder

Rebecca