Smoked Salmon Chowder

Jake Watrous

Legend
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We lost all of our non-smoked meat in the 3-day power outage, so it’s time to stretch what we have until the freezers are full again.

So, smoked salmon chowder it is.

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• 3 tablespoons butter

• 1 medium yellow onion, diced

• 2 stalks celery, diced

• 6 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 lb. potatoes, diced (Yukon gold or russet)

• ¼ teaspoon fennel seeds

• 2 bay leaves

• ½ teaspoon dried basil

• 1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

• 2 ½ -3 ½ cups stock (fish, shrimp, or chicken)

• 2 tablespoons EACH:
• tomato paste
• capers + 1 tablespoon bring

• 4-ounce cream cheese, softened to room temperature

• 4 teaspoons low sodium Old Bay seasoning

• 1 cup heavy cream

• 1lb smoked salmon, roughly diced into small pieces




SAUTE: Heat the butter in a large soup pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onions and celery and cook, stirring, until translucent and softened about 6-8minutes. Add the garlic and the potatoes. Crush the fennel seeds between your fingers and add them in. Add the bay leaves, dried basil, diced tomatoes, 2 ½ cups of stock, capers, and brine. Let the soup gain a rolling simmer, cover, and let cook for 8-15 minutes or until the potatoes cook all the way through. The timing may vary as this depends on how small you dice your potatoes.


CREAM CHEESE: When the potatoes are fork-tender, remove the lid, kick the heat up to medium and stir in the tomato paste, cream cheese, and old bay seasoning. Allow the cream cheese to melt into the soup.

SIMMER: Add the heavy cream and reduce the heat to low, allow the chowder to gently warm through until a light simmer develops. Add the shrimp and smoked salmon and let everything just heat through.

SERVE: the chowder immediately or as I recommend, chill the chowder for several hours before serving. This will allow the flavors to develop further and will help thicken the chowder further. Rewarm before serving. Use additional stock to thin the chowder to your preference. Season with additional salt as desired.



Would love to see your recipes and photos of similar fare.
 
Last edited:

Jake Watrous

Legend
Forum Supporter
Holy smokes that sounds great.

Dont often have cream cheese, you ever omit? Extra cream maybe?
It makes for a thicker chowder to use cream cheese, but you could use anything with fat, really. Extra cream would result in a thinner chowder unless you cooked some of the water out. I don’t think you’d change the flavor any. I’ve even used unsalted butter and milk in a pinch.
 

Jake Watrous

Legend
Forum Supporter
I might try that with smoked tuna.
It would be delicious with that. I might consider reducing the amount of stock and add some water in its place if using tuna belly. My smoked tuna belly usually ends up fairly fishy tasting (not a bad thing in my book, but ymmv).
 
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