The following recipe comes from The Mad Chemist a wonderful Canadian food blog, this is a heart and tasty chowder great for cooler weather.
WHAT I USED:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 5 bay leaves
- pinch of dried parsely
- pinch of salt and pepper
- pinch of dried tarragon
- pinch of dried basil
- pinch of sage
- two star anise
- 1 leek – chopped white and thinly sliced green
- five stalks of celery including leaf (use inner stalks if you can) chopped
- 4 carrots thickly sliced
- 2 potatoes chopped
- 6 cups low sodium chicken broth (roughly – or use veggie, fish but NOT beef stock please)
- 2 fillets of white fish (cod, talipia etc.)
- 1/4 cup cream (optional)
Heat olive oil and butter over medium low heat in large soup pot. Add leeks and savory spices. Stir to coat and saute a wee bit …..just cause the aroma is sooooo intoxicating….grin! Add other veggies and stir to coat. Leave to soften over heat for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Add stock. Bring to a boil and then turn down low and simmer, covered, for about twenty minutes.
Place your two fillets on top of the veggies and stock. Add two star anise to stock and cover. Keep simmering (the fillets are steaming on top) for another ten or so minutes, until fillets are cooked through. Remove whole spices and ‘stir roughly’ allowing the fillets to break apart into pieces. Add cream and heat through. Serve and enjoy! If you wish a ‘creamier’ soup, you could puree a portion of the soup in a blender or using your hand held blender…pulse 1/4 of the soup into a creamy mixture.
