Homemade Seattle Smoked Salmon Chowder with Potato and Onion
Here in Alaska, the dark days and winter solstice are an amazing celebration—the days start getting longer, the cold less cold. What could be better than smoked salmon chowder loaded with tender potatoes because root vegetables will make it naturally thick without inflammatory wheat or corn starch, and some capers for a little added zing! This tastes just like what they serve at the Seattle Pike Place Market! Only better. And when you live in a place with this in your backyard…. finding amazing recipes for salmon is superb!
Broth can be anything… Ling cod, halibut, salmon…. If you have the time, make homemade shrimp stock! Usually, I save the shells off of a couple of pounds of shrimp and make homemade stock by boiling them overnight in a crock pot. Any bone broth will do. So will boxed chicken or beef stock. If you hunt, caribou or moose… point is to use the entire animal. I’d love a moose shoulder.
Makes 2 pints
Ingredients
3 Tablespoons butter
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. potatoes, diced (Yukon gold or red potatoes)
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 tomato paste
2 Tablespons capers plus 1 tablespoon caper brine
4 teaspoons low sodium Old Bay seasoning
4 ounces shrimp (chopped or use salad shrimp or double the smoked salmon — smoked salmon recipe is here and avoids cane or brown sugar, check it out)
8 ounces smoked salmon, roughly diced into small pieces (once again, use this smoked salmon recipe on your Treager or other smoker. It is super!)
1 14oz can unsweetened coconut milk (Carrs and/or Freds)
Preparation
- Heat the butter in a large soup pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, onions, and celery and cook, stirring, until translucent and softened about 6-8minutes. Add 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 caper 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.
- When the potatoes are fork tender, change the heat to lows simmer. Stir in the tomato paste and old bay seasoning.
- Allow the chowder to gently warm through until a light simmer develops. Add the smoked salmon (or shrimp or other fish…) and let everything just heat through. Do not overcook your fish
- Once warmed through, (if smoked salmon it is already cooked—if other fish might take longer but don’t cook so long it dries out).
- Stir in the coconut milk then either serve imm3diately or pour into canning jars and freeze.
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