Canada

My first trip to Canada was a brief and busy visit to Ottawa with work. Had little chance to look around and try different food but I did try 'fiddleheads' (young fronds of the ostrich fern, Pteretis nodulosa) in the Rideau Club. No fiddleheads in this recipe so you have no excuse for not trying it!

Nova Scotia Scallop Chowder

• 1 kg scallops, white meat only
• 60g butter
• 6 medium potatoes, cubed
• 2 small onions, roughly chopped
• 1.67 litres milk
• salt & pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a frying pan and brown the scallop meat on both sides. Then take them out and cut them up into quite small pieces. Return these to the pan and brown them all over.

Meanwhile, cook the potatoes and onions in lightly salted water to cover, until they are done, but not to soft. Add the fried scallop, with the pan juices, milk and seasoning. Heat the chowder through, but without letting it come back to the boil. Serve with crackers.

[Having just re-read this recipe and thinking about the cost of a kilogramme of scallop (white meat only !!) I do not expect many people will try this unless they live by the sea and have a source of cheap scallops.