Kaimoana Chowder

Ginny Grant

Serves

4 - 6

Preparation

20 mins

Cook

40 mins

Ingredients

1kg mussels, scrubbed
125ml white wine
2 corn cobs
25g butter
1 onion, sliced
1 leek, sliced
1 celery stick, sliced
2 bay leaves
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1½cm-piece fresh turmeric or 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
a good pinch chilli flakes
2 tablespoons flour
2 large potatoes (approx 400g), scrubbed and diced
750ml fish stock (see note)
500g fish fillets, diced
125ml cream
2-3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley or chives to serve

NOTE

To make your own fish stock, put a little olive oil in a large pot and fry 2 sliced onions, 2 sliced carrots and 1 stick celery with a couple of sliced garlic cloves until soft.
Add 1kg cleaned fish frames and heads (ensuring that any blood is cleaned off and gills are removed).
Add a good handful of parsley, cover with water, add some sea salt and bring up to a gentle simmer.
Strain off any scum that floats to the top and cook for 30 minutes.
Strain through a sieve. Can be frozen.

Fruits of the sea are a true pleasure for the palate and if you love seafood, you’ll love this chowder. Also, excellent news for kaimoana lovers, seafood is awesome for the immune system. This lovely recipe is rich in zinc and the antioxidant selenium, which both help support many immune functions. Seafood is also rich in Omega 3, a fatty acid that helps calm down inflammation caused by an immune response.

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Instructions

1.Heat a large pot, add the mussels and wine and cook, covered, for a few minutes until they begin to open.
2.Set the mussel liquor and mussels aside.
3.When cool enough to handle, remove mussels from the shell and cut into bite-sized pieces.
4.Strain the mussel liquor through a sieve and set aside.
5.Cut the kernels from the corn and set aside.
6.In the same cleaned out pan, put the butter, onion, leek, celery and bay leaves and fry gently until soft.
7.Add the garlic, turmeric and chilli flakes and cook for a few minutes.
8.Stir in the flour and cook for a couple of minutes.
9.Add the potatoes, the mussel liquor (approximately 250ml), fish stock and shucked corn cobs (they’ll add some extra sweetness to the chowder).
10.Bring up to a simmer and cook gently for 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender, then add the fish pieces, the corn kernels, mussels and cream and cook for 3-5 minutes until the fish is cooked through.
11.Remove the corn cobs. Stir through the parsley and serve.

Recipes & food styling Ginny Grant / Photography Tony Nyberg / Styling Fiona Lascelles

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