As often happens, I was home for lunch watching Chef at Home with giant Chef Michael Smith, and was sucked in to re-creating the dish he was making on the show for our dinner.
He has a way of making everything sound so tasty and simple, throwing out random bits of info that make me go hmm. His food philosophy is cooking without a recipe, just grab the flavour you like or have on hand and see what happens, which I think is a great way to get comfortable in the kitchen when moving up your own culinary ladder.
I have jotted down many of his recipes over the years and use them regularly in one form or another, as I have added and tweaked to my liking. I used to be a total recipe hound, followed all recipes to the letter, which I think is what helped me learn technique, and timing, but I have now evolved into making my own creations, throwing it all into the pot and seeing what jumps out at me...not literally jumping out of the pot, although there was the time I grabbed the handle of a frying pan that had just been in oven...I held on to it for about three seconds, thought 'oh shit that's hot!", and very purposely let go, not over a counter or sink, heavens no, dropping it square onto the floor which sent the contents straight up into the air, splattering and splashing their way back down...I have done this far more than I care to admit, so I have finally devised a system to remind me of hot handle, whereby immediately after taking the hot pan out of the oven, I turn the oven mitt around a place it on the handle like it's own mitt, this is working quote well so far...oh come on now, of course you've done it, don't try and lie to me, you get busy pulling everything together at the end and just grab the handle, it's happens to the best of us...
So seeing as I had a half pound of prawns in the freezer and a fridge full of dill, I went ahead with the Seafood Chowder with Dill...sounds tasty right? But not for those watching calories or fat, this recipes contains whipping cream and a half pound of bacon...yum.
Seafood Chowder with Dill
Ingredients
½-pound bacon - chopped
1 onion - chopped
2 stalks celery - chopped
2 cups milk
1 cup 35% heavy whipping cream
1 cup half and half***
**the original called for just heavy cream and milk but I couldn't bring myself to use that much 35% cream so I switched it up with 1/2 and 1/2....I wouldn't go much less that that or it will be too runny.
3-4 tbsp Chinese cooking wine, or you could use 1 cup of any regular white wine, but lets be honest here people, unless I buy it specifically for a dish, if there's wine in my fridge it ain't gettin' saved for cooking
3/4 cup chicken broth - you can skip this if using a full cup of regular white wine
1 baking potato, peeled and grated
2 or 3 bay leaves
1/2 pound of fresh salmon, halibut or any other fresh fish
1/2 pound shrimp, peeled and de-veined
pinch of fresh ground nutmeg
1 bunch of dill, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
How to do it...
1. Brown the bacon until crisp in a soup pot or large saucepan.
2. Drain off most of the fat, then add the onions and celery. Sauté until the veg till soft, about 5-7 mins.
3. Add the milk, cream, wine/broth, grated potato and bay leaves. Stir and cook over medium heat until the potato has dissolved and thickened the soup, about 20 minutes. At this point, depending on how much time you have or how much cream vs. milk you used, you may want to thicken it with a roux. I take 2 tbs butter melt it the microwave and add 2 tbs flour. Add this to the pot and whisk to avoid lumps. Make sure you cook the soup after for about 3-4 minutes to cook off the flour.
4. Add the fish and nutmeg, season with salt and pepper and continue simmering just long enough to cook the fish through, about five minutes more. Just before serving, stir in the dill.
Serve this with a plain salad, no creamy dressing, as it may just push your heart over the edge, and a toasted grainy baguette - white bread is the devil's pillow when combined with high fat dishes.
Oddly enough, the day I made this dish I had been on the Nova Scotia tourism sight just taking a look around, and thought "how fitting, I'm making a Maritime style fish chowder tonight", and when dinner was ready and we sat down to eat, what was playing on CBC Radio2? That's right, Celtic music, straight from Cape Breton...ooohh spooky!
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