battenburgbelle.com

The first chowder of the season

I was feeling a bit guilty about the lack of variety in Missy B’s diet on the days I work (she shouldn’t really have omelette or sausages every time, keen though she is on both). But with judicious use of left overs and a quick spin round Sainsburys on the way home, I managed to rustle up an old favourite – a salmon chowder. I love a chowder – my absolute favourite is smoked haddock, a bit spicy and perfect for a cold winter’s evening. But this time I used salmon, as I am frantically trying to empty the freezer, so I can defrost it and start filling it again with festive loveliness. More on the ridiculous task that is defrosting the Nunnery freezer another time… Missy B and I both love prawns, so this is actually Salmon & Prawn Chowder.

As ever, my soup recipes are vague, but this is what I did with what was here already and what I bought on the way home:

knob of butter

1 red onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced

2 sticks of celery, finely diced

1 red pepper, peeled and finely diced

1 medium potato, peeled and grated

2 corn on the cobs

200g salmon fillet, skinned

150g prawns

500ml fish stock (although had to make do with vegetarian this time, which was fine)

cream – on this occasion, what was left in a pot in the fridge, probably about 50ml

white wine – about a wine glass

salt and pepper

flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

½ cucumber, finely diced

Melt the butter and cook the onions and garlic on a low heat for a few minutes.

Add the celery and cook for a couple more minutes. Then add the pepper, then the potato. Stir from time to time.

Slice the corn off the cobs and put the cobs in the soup with the stock, wine and cream.

Season and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Add the salmon, corn and prawns. Simmer until the salmon is cooked. Check the seasoning and add the parsley.

Put some cucumber in each bowl, then add the chowder.

Smile graciously as your daughter says “I don’t really like soup (??) but I love this chowder”! Apparently this is the only soup she likes. I have tried to explain the lunacy of such a sweeping generalisation and anyway she eats most of soups I produce, with little complaint. She drew the line at beetroot and raspberry last week and, to be fair, she had a point.

This made at least five portions and has therefore been no help in Project Empty the Freezer.