Fish Chowder
Chowders, like many one pot dishes are useful supplies for dwarfs on the march or for feeding unannounced visitors or family if you have a large enough pot. Unlike meat dishes, fish is quicker to prepare.
This recipe is perhaps a little spicy for young dwarfs but probably great for when you are stuck outdoors with winter coming on and the wrong kind of underwear. It can be toned down with dairy products like cream, sour cream or even yoghurt but to be frank, a real dwarf wouldn't consider it.
Ingredients (for two servings)
- 700g of mixed fish (e.g. cod, haddock, smoked or otherwise chopped into cubes)
- 10g of dried seaweed
- 1 large red onion
- 1 tin butter / fava beans
- 4 large red tomatoes
- Olive oil
- Some dry white wine
- 3 cloves garlic
- Some dried chives
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Soak the seaweed in cold water for about 20 minutes or until soft and rehydrated. Then chop into small pieces.
Chop the red onion roughly (i.e not fine diced but chopped with dwarfish attitude). In a large pan ( we use the base of a metal tagine), add a good portion of oil and heat until , well hot I suppose. Add the onion and stir to prevent sticking or burning. Turn down the heat(or move to the cooler plate on the Aga) and allow to cook for about 5 minutes.
Peel, crush and chop the garlic and add to the onions.
Roughly chop the tomatoes into small pieces. If you don't want the skin peel them first using boiling water but if cut small enough they will not cause any problems with skin on.
Add the spices to the pan and stir to prevent sticking and burning.
Add chopped tomatoes to the pan and stir in with the onions and cook for a further 15 minutes or so to soften up the tomatoes.
Drain and rinse the tin of butter beans and add to the pan.
Add chopped fish and the seaweed to the pan and stir carefully but only a couple of times before the fish starts to cook. You don't want to mash the fish or break it up.
Add some wine and make up any lack of liquid with a little additional water. This is a chowder so the fish wants to be swimming
Leave over a low heat for 10 minutes or so until the fish is cooked. Salt and pepper to taste.
Remove from heat and if you want to, add some cream or yoghurt if the heat is too much for you. Then serve with a hunk of fresh bread of course!
Observations
I had served a kind of deconstructed version of this on a previous occasion with the fish cooked separately and with some salt and pepper fried cabbage. A thicker version of the chowder mix without the fish was served as a separate portion on each plate instead of potatoes. It looked pretty on the plate and when I finally got around to serving the chowder I was rewarded with a comment along the lines of... "I don't know why you chose to mix the fish in with the rest of it..."
Of course the reason was that I wanted a one pot chowder fit for a dwarf and not some fancy elvish platter of daintiness.
Source: Try salt preserved lemons here.
