Midweek Meal: Top chef’s North Sea cod with smoked haddock chowder

Jamie MacKinnon, head chef at The Seafood Ristorante in St Andrews, shares one of his favourite meals to cook at home using locally-sourced ingredients

Smoked haddock chowder is one of my favourites to cook at home. Turn a rich and tasty chowder into a restaurant-quality main course with the addition of a piece of beautifully roasted cod fillet.

At The Seafood Ristorante in St Andrews, we source all our smoked haddock from David Lowrie Fish Merchants in St Monans, Anstruther.

They stock a massive range of dayboat fish and shellfish from all of Scotland’s shores and the quality is unbelievable. They have also set up a new shop during lockdown to supply the public and intend to keep it going post lockdown.

The rapeseed oil I use in this recipe is Scottish Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil produced by Summer Harvest at Ferneyfold Farm near Crieff in Perthshire.

North Sea cod with smoked haddock chowder

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

For the chowder: 

• Splash of rapeseed oil
• 50g butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 celery sticks, diced
• 2 leeks, washed and diced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 100g smoked bacon lardons
• 100ml white wine
• 300ml fish stock
• 300ml whole milk
• 300ml double cream
• 2 potatoes, peeled and diced
• 150g sweetcorn
• 250g smoked haddock/four fillets, diced
• 30g chives, finely chopped
• 100g spinach
• Salt and pepper

For the cod:

• 4 fillets of cod, skinned
• 50g butter
• Rapeseed oil (e.g. Scottish Cold Pressed from Summer Harvest)
• Squeeze of lemon

Method

1. Start by making the chowder. Heat a little rapeseed oil in a large heavy bottomed pan, add the butter and sweat the onion, leek, celery and smoked bacon for 5 minutes over a medium heat.
2. Add the white wine and reduce by half, repeat this process with the fish stock. once reduced add the cream, milk, potato and sweetcorn and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. After the 10 minutes add the smoked haddock and cook for a further 2 minutes, finish with chives and season to taste.
4. Now we can roast the cod. Heat a little rapeseed oil in a frying pan and cook the cod skin side down for 3-4 minutes so it’s nice and golden. Add the butter so it’s foaming and turn the cod whilst basting in butter for a further 2 minutes and finish with the lemon.
5. Lightly wilt the spinach in a hot pan for one minute.
6. To plate put a ring of spinach in the middle of the bowl, chowder all around the spinach and the roasted cod on top of the spinach.

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