Chowder

A  creamy fish soup with an abundance of vegetables and with a subtle hint of bay leaf - perfect for a cold winter's evening.  You will be ready to sit down to a hearty meal in under 45 minutes!

2 tablespoon butter

1 onion, chopped

2 leeks, sliced

2 celery stalks, sliced

salt and pepper

150g mushrooms, sliced

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups full cream milk

2 carrots, diced

2 potatoes, diced

1 1/2 cup water or stock

1 bay leaf

1/2 cup frozen sweetcorn

salt and pepper 2 tablespoons flour\2 smoked haddock fillets, skinned (about 400g)

Heat the butter in a large saucepan.  Add the onion, cook for 2-3 mins, without browning, then add the leeks, celery and mushrooms and saute until soft. Season with salt and pepper.

Sprinkle over the flour and mix through. Cook for 1 minute or so.

Pour over the milk bit by bit, stirring all the time. Add the water, carrots, potatoes and bay leaf. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 5 mins stirring regularly to avoid it sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Add the sweetcorn and cook for 2-3 minutes, bringing back up to heat.

Add the haddock, then leave to gently cook for another 5-10 mins. As it cooks, break it into large chunks.   Season.

Serve with a grinding of black pepper and crusty white bread.

The perfect pork belly

Over the past year or so, since I "discovered" pork belly, I've been trying various recipes in search of the one I can call perfect.  Perfect meaning easy to prepare using only six ingredients, with the crispiest skin and meltingly tender meat.  I think I've found it, except maybe for the fact that it needs 8 ingredients, if I count the salt and pepper! 

To serve 8 hungry people a piece of pork belly weighing 3 kg, should be enough.  (The meat might be to big for an oven tray, in which case you can slice of a few ribs and place it next to the larger piece.)  No need to score the skin.

1 handful of rosemary, chopped

1 handful of thyme, chopped

6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

1/2 a cup of pure sunflower or olive oil

1 pork belly (2.5 - 3kg)

1 bottle of white wine

salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to its highest setting (on my oven that is 230 degrees)

Blend the herbs, garlic and oil.  Place the pork belly skin-side down and season with salt and pepper and then rub the herb mixture evenly all over the meat, avoiding the skin.  Place the meat skin-side up into an oventray.  Wipe the skin dry with paper towel, then season lightly with salt.

Put the tray in the oven for 1 hour, turning the tray around 3 - 4 times during this hour.  Now turn the oven down to 170 degrees and pour the wine into the tray, avoiding the skin and then roast for another hour.  Lastly turn the oven down to 110 degrees and roast for another hour. 

Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 10 minutes.  The bones can easily be removed,  then  slice into thick slices.  (It might be easier to cut the crackling using kitchen scissors.)

Serve with onion marmelade and roast quinces, pears or apples on the side.