Bobb's Awesome Alaskan Halibut Chowder.

Ok, so I made myself some "get better soup" this evening because I am feeling a cold coming on, and the soup was AMAZING!!! I do not mean to sound egotistical, but I make great soup (as I found out tonight.) I was given about a pound of halibut a while ago and had no idea how I was going to cook it. When I started feeling a cold coming on, I though chowder sounded great. I looked around for some halibut chowder recipes, but they all had things in them I didn't like and left out the things I do like....so I took the basics of a chowder and made it my own. I thought I would share the recipe with you all. This is a perfect soup to warm you up on a cold winter night!
(warning...this is NOT a low fat/low cal soup.)

Alaskan Halibut Chowder:
Ingredients:

• About 1 lb. bacon
  
• 3-4 medium sized potatoes, chopped
  
• *2 jalapeño peppers, de-seeded and chopped
  
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 cups water
• 1 can evaporated milk (I used 2%)
  
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 1 lb Halibut, skin and bones removed and cut up
• Instant Mashed Potato Flakes, to thicken
• Sour Cream and chopped chives, to garnish

Directions:
Cook bacon in a large pot; place on paper towels, crumble, and put off to the side. Save about 1/4 cup of the good stuff left in the pot to cook the veggies in. Saute vegetables in reserved drippings (I put in the potatoes first, then the onion, and finally the peppers so things wouldn't burn.) Add water and evaporated milk; let simmer for 20 minutes. Add cream and halibut let simmer for another 15 to 20 minutes. Add potato flakes to thicken, about 1/2 cup. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Add crumbled bacon and serve with a dollop of sour cream and chopped chives.

*I find the best way to de-seed jalapeños is to cut the top off (where the stem is) and then, over a trash can or garbage disposal, roll the pepper between your hands...as if you were making play-dough snakes. Go ahead and be kinda rough with them so you can loosen all of the stuff inside. Give the peppers a little slap and most of the seeds should just fall out...a few seeds are not bad. The majority of the heat in peppers comes from the seeds and those little rib things inside the pepper...removing most of them still adds great flavor and a little heat to the dish without over-powering it with spice.

Like I said, this soup was very tasty! I have the advantage of wonderful Alaskan Halibut caught in the wild, but I am sure any Halibut from your local fishmonger/grocery meat section will work great. Try to get it as fresh as you can. I thought of trying this with cod, but I am afraid that cod is too flaky. I hope you try this and enjoy it as much as I did. The best part is, it makes a LOT of soup, so I have leftovers to last me a week!!

Take care everyone!
Rock on,
~Mr. Lockwood