Smoked haddock & leek chowder

A creamy, chunky fish chowder for a winter's day - proper warm-you-up grub

Ingredients

• 600g natural (undyed) smoked haddock
• 500ml milk
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 150g lardons (diced bacon), or chopped streaky bacon
• 2 sticks of celery, thinly sliced
• 3 medium leeks, washed and sliced
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced into small cubes
• 500ml fish or chicken stock
• 125g frozen sweetcorn, thawed
• 142ml carton single cream
• 2 tbsp roughly chopped fresh parsley

Directions

STEP 1
Lay the haddock in a deep frying pan and pour over the milk. Cover and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and leave undisturbed for about 5 mins, until the haddock is just cooked. Lift the haddock from the milk, remove the skin and bones and fl ake onto a plate. Reserve the milk for later.

STEP 2
Heat the oil in a large saucepan (preferably non-stick) and gently fry the bacon until starting to brown. Add the celery, leeks, bay leaves and potatoes, and cook for a couple of mins. Pour in the stock and reserved milk. Bring to the simmer and cook for 10 mins.

STEP 3
Add the flaked haddock, sweetcorn and cream. Season with pepper (it shouldn’t need salt) and stir in the parsley. Heat through gently, then serve.