This is a great recipe for cooking onboard, or at home. It works well with a variety of fish. Plain white fish, like snapper, would be classic, but we love it with mahi-mahi too. The magic step of mashing some of the solids ingredients after cooking makes for a thick and hearty broth without the added fat from cream.

Serves 2.

• 1 piece of bacon, diced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, diced finely
• 1c clam broth (or fish or chicken broth)
• 8 oz boneless fish fillets, cut into 1″ cubes
• 2 small potatoes, cubed, about 2 cups. (Or one large baking potato, or a half dozen baby new potatoes).
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 2/3 c low fat milk (UHT boxed milk, or Dried Whole Milk work great. Feel free to use half and half or cream if you are feeling decadent, but it is not necessary.)
• 1 Tbls Water
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1/8 tsp ground pepper

Fry bacon in a large saucepan until crisp. Remove, and reserve.

Add onion, celery, and garlic to pan and cook over medium heat until softened. 3 to 5 minutes.

Add clam broth, fish, potatoes, thyme, and bay leaf to pot. Simmer until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.

Remove about 1 cup of solids from pan and mash. Return to pan, and add milk. Bring to a slow simmer.

Mix water and cornstarch. With continuous stirring, add cornstarch mixture to chowder. Stir until thickened, about 1 minute.

Serve garnished with bacon.