A Striper of Mine Own

Like Matt I grew up a Midwesterner far from the ocean. For the young me the ocean was called Grand Lake St.Mary's, a shallow mud bottom 'lake' dug over a hundred years ago to feed water to the Erie Canal. It smelled bad and was home to a giant population of carp with a few crappie here and there. So.....where was I? Oh, yes. The Ocean. I'm still trying to figure it out but I did manage (after several trips) to catch one nice striped bass and recently thawed the last of that bass and Sarah and I made a pretty stand-up chowder. The recipe follows >

2 1/4" thick strips of BACON
(I substituted (8) 1/8" thick strips; you do the math)
2 large Spanish onions, finely chopped
2 tsp flour
1 qt. clam broth (stinky)
1 qt. water
2 russet potatoes, peeled, 1/2" pieces
2 lbs. white fish, cut into 2" pieces
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp butter
2 leeks (whites only{racist}), halved, washed & cut into matchsticks

Heat a large flameproof casserole over med-high. Add BACON & cook stirring often for 5 minutes or until brown. Transfer what you don't eat to a plate. Discard all but 1 wonderful tablespoon of bacon fat from pan. Add onions & cook over medium heat, stirring often for 10 min. or until softened. Add flour & cook, stirring for 2 minutes. Add stinky clam broth & water, stirring constantly & bring to a boil. Add BACON & potatoes & cook for 20 mins. or until the potatoes begin to soften but aren't cooked through. Add fish & cook over low heat for 5 min or until cooked through. Add cream, salt, pepper & heat almost until boiling (don't let it boil!). While fish is cooking , soften leeks in butter for 1-2 min; use as garnish. Eat in big bites pausing every now and then to breathe.