The Lean Green Bean: Simple Fish Chowder

Every summer while I was growing up, my mom, sister and I would pack our suitcases and head to the east coast for a couple of weeks. We spent a week visiting my Grandpa and Mimi in Massachusetts and a week visiting my Aunt Meg in Maine. Every year before we came, Aunt Meg would make a giant batch of fish chowder and we would eat it several times during the trip.

The other night, my parents and I were talking about fish and I got this MAJOR CRAVING for that fish chowder...so tonight I whipped up a batch.

Here's Aunt Meg's recipe:

1/4 lb salt pork, diced (I used 3 slices of turkey bacon)
2 onions, diced (I used 1 onion)
4 cups potatoes, cut small (I used 2 medium sized white potatoes)
water
2 lbs fish fillets (Haddock is best, but cod or any other white fish would work...i used two fillets for a total of about 1 1/4 lbs...buy it skinless or take it off yourself!)
salt and pepper
2-3 cups milk, evap milk or half and half (I used 2 1/2 c skim milk..if you want it a little thicker and more chowder like, you could use half and half)

Directions:

Dice the bacon and place in a dutch oven over medium heat.

Add a diced onion and heat slowly until soft and yellowed.

Dice potatoes and add to the onion mixture:

Cover the potatoes with broth or water. The original recipe calls for just water but I had some broth that I needed to use up so I used a combination.

Get your fish ready. If necessary, use a sharp knife to remove the skin.

Lay the fish on top of the potatoes. Don't worry about cutting it up, it will flake apart when cooked.

Add some seasonings. I used black pepper and Old Bay seasoning:

Bring the mixture to a boil, cover and cook until fish and potatoes are cooked through, about 10 minutes. Use a spatula to break the fish into chunks.