Cardrona skifield seafood chowder is one of the best there is.
Rich and hearty, it has great flavour which Russ (head chef) attributes to using Nelson smoked trevally.

The quantities have been scaled to suit the home kitchen.
In our adapting of the original recipe the proportion of wine has been reduced by half and the cream by a third. Change this back if you would rather.

Yield: 6

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 leek, diced
• 1 carrot diced
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1.5kg shellfish (e.g. clams and mussels)
• 1 litre (4 cups) fish stock
• sea salt
• 500ml (2 cups) cream
• 2 large potatoes, cubed 1cm
• 300g smoked trevally/makererl, flaked
• 300g fresh salmon, finely chopped
• chopped parsley and a little dill to garnish

Method

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and gently cook the carrots, leek, garlic, bay leaf and thyme until the vegetables are tender. In a separate pan, heat the wine and add the shellfish, cover and steam just until shells open. Strain the liquid into the pan with the vegetables. Set the mussels and clams aside. Reduce the liquid by half and then add the stock and potatoes. Season with sea salt. Cook and then add the salmon and shellfish. Lastly pour in the cream and the flaked smoked fish. Simmer and then remove from the heat and serve garnished with herbs such as parsley or dill.