Today I have some fish recipes that you might like to try out for Father’s Day. The chowder makes a great lunch or supper and you can make it a day ahead. Plus it is a very healthy dish.

First of all, get a good-quality, naturally smoked haddock, one with no dye. I am very fond of Haddock and often use it with risotto or in fish cakes. Potatoes give good texture and body to the chowder. I also like the sweetness and the crunch that you can get with sweetcorn, which makes for a very tasty and healthy soup.

I hope plenty of you are growing your own parsley this year. It is such a handy garnish to have to add to lots of meals.

For the cod dish, ask you fishmonger to bone the fish. I sometimes use hake instead of cod; it is lovely fish and is really under-used. Dry cured rashers are the best so do look out for them. And I love the new season Irish potatoes. We source ours from Country Crest in Lush who are probably the biggest producer in Ireland. I was delighted to visit their stand recently in Bloom.

Happy cooking!

THIS WEEK’S RECIPES

COD WITH SMOKED BACON, TOMATO AND THYME

Serves four

1tbsp rapeseed oil

4 cod fillets, pin boned, skin on

1 onion, diced

4 smoked streaky bacon rashers, cut into strips

400g chopped tomatoes

1 tsp light brown sugar

4 sprigs of thyme

1 tbsp soy sauce

Baked or steamed potatoes, to serve

1 Heat the oil in a medium saute pan before frying the onion and bacon for five to eight minutes until lightly browned.

2 Stir the tomatoes, sugar, thyme and soy sauce, season well and bring to the boil.

3 Reduce to simmer for 5 minutes before placing the cod into the sauce.

4 Cover with a lid, baking sheet or tin foil and leave to gently simmer for 8 – 10 minutes, until cod is just cooked through.

5 Serve with baked/steamed potatoes.

SWEETCORN AND HADDOCK CHOWDER

Serves two

1 tbsp rapeseed oil

2 streaky rashers bacon, chopped

1 onion finely diced

350g potatoes, cut into cubes

500ml milk

300g natural smoked haddock fillets (skinned and deboned and cut into cubes)

140g frozen sweetcorn

Chopped parsley

1 Heat the oil in a large pan and tip in the bacon. Then cook until starting to brown and add the onion. Cook until soft. Pour over the milk and stir the potatoes. Bring to the boil. Simmer for five minutes.

2 Add the haddock. Leave to cook for another 10 minutes. Stir in the sweetcorn. Cook for another two to three minutes, until the fish is cooked through and the sweetcorn defrosted.

3 Serve and garnish with chopped parsley. Serve with crusty bread.