Smoked Snoek Chowder

Snoek is a long thin commercial food fish found in the seas of the Souther hemisphere. This fish can grow to as large as 200 centimetres and have a mass of up to 6 kilograms. It is an oily fish, very bony and has very fine scales. You can buy it fresh, frozen, smoked or canned. It is quite common and is considered a delicacy in Namibia and South Africa (even more so than in Namibia). Snoek has a very distinct taste and flavour - and we love it.

So when my father brought home smoked snoek last Wednesday, my brain was a buzz with all the recipes I can try out and my fingers began to tingle with anticipation. I like soupy things, so I decided to make smoked snoek chowder.

Smoked Snoek Chowder

For the chowder I used potatoes, leeks (the white part only), celery, portobello mushrooms, salt, fresh parsley, fresh thyme, black pepper, white wine, water, vegetable stock powder, all purpose flour and the smoked snoek (de-boned and roughly shredded).

First, you make the base for the chowder, which is the same way you would make a typical potato and leek soup, then when that is cooked you add a third of your snoek and cook it for about five minutes on low heat. Once that is simmered down you add the rest of the snoek and take it of the heat and leave for 10 minutes. After that you can serve with either some form of bread or just eat it as it is.

I must say this was a hit, and with winter coming on there is bound to be a lot more of this chowder and other soups on the cards.