Smoked Haddock Chowder

This week I had Smoked Haddock Chowder. Actually, I was looking for a good recipe to use kipper, as I enjoy smoked fish of any kind and kipper is the cheapest of them all. I couldn’t find any interesting recipe for kipper, but I found this one for smoked haddock – or rather these two, as what I eventually made is a variation of this one and this one. I stuck to smoked haddock this time, just to see what the original is supposed to be like, but I will definitely try kipper next time.

 

Smoked Haddock Chowder

1 onion
butter (alternatively olive oil)
500 ml milk
ca. 350 g potatoes
2 fillets of smoked haddock (or any other smoked fish)
1 small can of corn

Chop the onion and fry in butter. In the meantime, peel the potatoes and cut into small cubes. Add the milk and the potato cubes, bring to a boil and cook for a little while. Then add the haddock, cook a short while and add the corn. Season and serve.

 
Notes:

Neither the haddock nor the corn I used were frozen, so I had to adapt the cooking time given in the original recipes to make sure that the potatoes were cooked without having the haddock falling apart. I really enjoyed the simplicity of the recipe and the fact that everything except for the haddock (or even including the haddock, if you have a frozen one) are typical staples you would usually have at home. However, I’m not really sure how much I like the taste of it. The taste of corn is quite predominant in this chowder and, although I love fresh corn, calls up associations of cheap food – which is why I awarded only three stars. Adding bits of bacon, as suggested in one of the original recipes, might have helped to add a fuller flavour, but I don’t quite know if that had been enough. The taste of the smoked fish isn’t strong enough at all for a fish chowder, nor was the soup as mushy as I would have expected (which doesn’t mean that at a given moment I cooked the soup so long that the milk didn’t disappear…). I guess using a different kind of potatoes might help, as might using a recipe that calls for longer cooking times in general. All in all, however, this is a super-practical everyday meal.

I’m not really sure in which season I should place this. The smoked haddock indicates winter, but somehow… perhaps the corn makes me feel summer… perhaps the corn should be left out altogether (or strongly reduced), and possibly replaced by other vegetable, if any at all…

Serves 2-4 depending on for which course it is served; adapted from BBC Good Food.

Quick Meatball Casserole

I’m back in London since beginning of this week, and desperately need a way to cook around all my limitations: no oven, very few herbs and spices, and one person only to feed (although the latter might more be a problem of lacking inspiration than of anything else). Ideal preconditions to make a one-dish meal.

 

Quick Meatball Casserole

500 g turkey (or any other) mince
small bunch of parsley
2(-4) onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
450 g carrots, quartered and cut into chunks
450 g potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 tbsp. paprika
500 g can passata/ chopped tomatoes

Make sure you have at least chopped half of the vegetables, if not all, before you begin. Don’t chop the carrots too finely; they will be cooked as long as the potatoes even though they have a shorter cooking time, and still need to be crisp.

Mix the turkey mince with half the chopped parsley and some salt and pepper and form small meat balls. Heat some oil in a casserole and fry until the meatballs are done. Or just buy ready-made meatballs from your local supermarket as I have, in order to avoid having Spaghetti Bolognese yet again (see this entry).

Add the chopped onions, carrots, and the garlic and fry shortly before you add the potatoes and 300 ml (or two large glasses) of water (– the original recipe says nothing about frying in this step, but I just enjoy the taste of fried onions, and I had already mixed them with the carrots and the garlic when this step occurred to me). Bring to a boil, cover (or not, but make sure the potatoes are immersed) and simmer for 15 min.

Stir in the paprika, passata/ chopped tomatoes and half the remaining parsley. Bring to a boil, cover (or not; I had no choice, I had no lid for my casserole but it went just fine; just don’t forget the potatoes) and cook for a further 10-15 min or until the potatoes are tender. Season to taste and sprinkle with the remaining parsley.

 
Notes:

It will be crucial for this recipe that you end up having nicely boiled potatoes without having flabby overcooked carrots. As I said above, try not to chop too fine chunks of carrots but make an effort with the potatoes (relatively, that is – mine were approximately 2×2×2 cm). I could only find cans of chopped tomatoes instead of passata, and it went very well – you could probably also add other vegetables, or passata plus fresh tomatoes, as long as you add enough liquid.

I’m not yet really sure whether I should award this recipe three or four stars – I guess the problem is mainly that it tastes too much like typical kids’ food. Don’t shy away from this dish because of this comment, the food is tasty, and anyway, it’s ideal for kids…

And check your cupboard for any ingredients you believe you don’t have before cooking, not after…

Serves 4; adapted from the BBC Good Food Series’ 101 One-pot Dishes.

The 55p meal

Roasted Vegetables with Poached Eggs and a Slice of Bread

I found myself a really cheap meal this weekend. My supermarket had reduced the price of a bag of vegetable selection (potatoes, carrots, turnips and onions) to 69p, which was enough to prepare two portions of roasted vegetables. Cube the vegetable, add some extra garlic (whole), place in an oven proof dish, add a marinade of honey, lemon juice, oil and some salt, stir and pop it in the oven. Or, in my case, into the microwave – it was the first time I prepared something with the microwave-grill-combo function, so I was glad that all went well. In the mean time, poach one egg per person (see my – very very very – basic description), prepare some bread, wait until the veggies are cooked and crispy, and enjoy.