When the Fall weather begins to put a chill in the air, heat things up with this Fish Chowder recipe right from "The Cuz" himself !
There is one simple rule you’ll need to follow if you expect to enjoy the bountiful rewards of your labor when fishing for or harvesting fish from New Jersey waters. KEEP IT FRESH! How many times have you seen the guy next to you squeeze the life out of a fish while trying to de-hook it? Maybe even to release it unharmed! Squeezing, holding it too firmly, stepping on it, throwing on the ground or in a cooler all are perfect ways of bruising the flesh you will soon eat. How about putting the fish in a bucket full of water, or even a burlap bag to start to decompose from the minute it’s caught? You’ll need to remember that the taste of your fish begins the moment it comes out of the water.
Icing down your fish as soon as possible will also ensure that you have the freshest possible fish and fish fillets. Then you can use that beautiful, fresh fish to concoct my next recipe!
by Mike "Cuzzy Boy" Melchionne
FISH CHOWDER
4 cups of water
4 Bay leaves
1½ lbs of white fish (Actually most any fish will do...make sure skin is removed!)
3-4 slices of bacon (uncooked)
4 cups of diced peeled potatoes
1½ cups of chopped onions (frozen is fine)
¾ cup of diced carrots
1 tablespoon of dried thyme
1 teaspoon of salt (divided)
1 tablespoon of black pepper (divided)
1 quart of half and half
1 tablespoon of butter
2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
2 tablespoons of Worcestershire or Smoked BBQ sauce (optional)
1) Boil water, bay leaves and ½ of the thyme in a pan for 10 minutes.
2) Add ½ salt, ½ pepper, garlic.
3) In another pan, cook bacon till done, but pliable. (Don’t let bacon burn or stick to pan...SAVE drippings in the pan!).
4) Remove and let bacon cool on side, then dice into quarters in squares.
5)
Add carrots, potatoes, onions and garlic to bacon drippings and cook slowly until you can get a fork to pierce a carrot.
6) Remove all but 1 tablespoon of oil from pan if there’s more left.
7) Add 1 cup of liquid from stock pot to vegetables, simmer and scrap pan.
8) Return veggies and liquid to stock pot.
9) Add half and half, butter, fish, rest of salt, pepper, thyme and simmer over medium heat (about 15 minutes).
When fish flakes easily with a fork, it’s done!
10)
Add Worcestershire or BBQ sauce if desired, to taste.
Note: If the broth is too thin, a quick fix is to add some instant mash potato flakes (add slowly until desired thickness is reached).
Enjoy on a chilly autumn evening!
