I am a great fan of soups of almost all descriptions but the best soup I have ever eaten was a sea food Chowder at a small restaurant in Edinburgh called The Mussel Inn on Rose Street. Although I have tried to reproduce it many times I can never get it right so I have just given up. This chowder purely uses smoked haddock rather than to try and combine numerous different fishes. I hope you enjoy it.

Serves 2 hungry people or 3 with bread for a lunch.

Smoked Haddock Chowder
200g smoked haddock
600ml whole milk
1 bay leaf
4 peppercorns (I like pink peppercorns here as I have them in the kitchen but black are equally as good)
40 g (or a good knob) butter
2 bacon rashers (diced)
1 medium onion
2 tsp flour
200ml water
2 large potatoes (peeled and cut into small (about 0.5 cm) dice)
100ml cream
1 small tin of sweet corn

Step 1 – fish
Try and find a pan, preferably a deep frying pan that will hold over 800ml of fluid. Lay the fish on the base and cover with 250ml of the milk. Gently bring the milk to the boil. As soon as it has reached the boil pour the milk away then refill the pan with the rest of the milk, bay leaf and peppercorns. Gently heat again until it comes to the boil. At this point remove the fish, bay leaf and peppercorns (throw the leaf and peppercorns away) from the pan and pour the milk into a measuring jug for use in a later stage.
At this stage quickly wipe the pan out.

Step 2 – soup
Quickly cook off the bacon in half of the butter until the bacon is crispy, then put to one side with the fish.
Add the rest of the butter and the onion to the pan and gently heat till translucent. At this point sprinkle the flour in and mix for about a minute until it has fully combined with the juices and is no longer lumpy.
Now is the time to place the potatoes into the pan and pour over the milk left over from step 1, plus the water.
Simmer for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are just cooked.

Step 3 – assembly
Remove the skin from the now cooled fish and flake roughly. Add the fish, cream, sweet corn and bacon to the pan and gently warm through.
Serve.

What I think
It does seem an overcomplicated recipe but as long as you read it through first and have all the ingredients prepared before you start it goes very easily… saying that I did almost forget to add the cream as I was chatting at the time. It tastes very good and if you use frozen smoked haddock it is a rather cheap dish to make. This is definitely an 8 out of 10, one to make again.