Kitchen Exile

Mussel chowder

I give cookery lessons to a couple of friends on a monthly basis. They asked me to teach them how to make a chowder style soup, not just any chowder but one they had on a visit to Ireland last year. After many pictures and descriptions of tastes and smells that passed to and fro, I managed to get something close to what they had. I know that you are thinking you could have contacted the restaurant and got the recipe, I did, and they never came back to me, so had to improvise. 

1 kg mussels
100ml water to cook the mussels
1 stick celery finely diced
100g finely chopped leek
100g carrot peeled and finely diced
300g small salad potatoes quartered
1 litre shellfish or fish stock
30g cornflour slaked in 100ml milk
10g smoked paprika flakes
5g smoked sweet paprika
150g smoked pancetta
20g creme fraiche
15ml oil for frying
Salt and pepper to taste

In a pan place the mussels and water and bring to the boil, turn the heat down, place a lid on the pan and simmer until all the mussels have opened, discard any that have not
Strain the liquid through a sieve into a jug and place the mussels in a bowl to cool down
Once cooled, remove the mussels from the shells and place to one side
In a saucepan fry off the onions, celery and carrots on a low heat for about 15 minutes until soft and glossy
Add the bacon, paprika and paprika flakes and cook for a further 10 minutes
Pour the fish stock and cooking liquid into the pan with the vegetables and bacon and add the potatoes, cook for a further 15 minutes
Add the mussels
Pour in the cornflour and milk mix, stir until the chowder has thickened
Add the creme fraiche and stir through