Smoked Haddock Chowder

This is based on an Ainsley Harriott recipe, it's easy to prepare and tastes good too.  You can buy the smoked haddock in advance and freeze it but you can't freeze the prepared dish well as the potato doesn't freeze well, but if you know better, let me know!  These quantities server 4 if you're hungry.

Ingredients

25g unsalted butter
1 leek
1 onion
2 rashers smoked back bacon
600g undyed smoked haddock
450ml skimmed milk
2 bay leaves
300g peeled potatoes
500ml fish or chicken stock
150g frozen sweetcorn
3 teaspoons Dijon mustard
30g pack of flatleaf parsley

Method

Chop the onion, leek and bacon finely, melt the butter in a large sauté pan, add the onion, leek and bacon and sauté over a medium to low heat for 10-15 minutes to soften but not colour the mixture. Meanwhile prepare the fish by putting the bay leaves, fish and milk into a pan, bring the milk to the boil then turn down to simmer for 10 minutes then turn the heat off.

Peel the potato and cut into 5mm dice, then rinse and add to the onion, leek and bacon mix, add the stock, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the potato is soft.  Drain the fish adding the cooking milk directly into the potato, onion, leek and bacon mixture.  Add the sweet corn and mustard, stirring to mix them well. You'll need to bring the mix to the boil a second time as the corn will cool things down, once it's boiled, continue cooking over a very low heat while you prepare the rest of the dish.  At this stage, the mixture should be a fairly thick soup consistency, if it's too thin reduce it down while you prepare the fish.

Wait for the fish to cool enough to flake into bite size chunks. Separate the leaves from the stalks of the parsley and chop roughly, now add the fish and the parsley to the mix and heat through until it's all piping hot.

Serve in soup bowls with nice crusty bread and enjoy!