Seahawks Super Bowl Smoked Salmon Chowder

This doesn’t seem real.  I’ve been too busy to watch anything on TV, listen to sports radio, or read any articles these last 2 weeks.  I think it’s just now hitting me.  The Super Bowl is today! My Seahawks are playing in the Super Bowl today!  2nd year in a row.  Let’s do it again!  Go Hawks!!

Every time I go to Seattle, I try to get a smoked salmon chowder.  I didn’t have time when I went a few weeks ago, but this will make up for it.

There was a soup cook-off at work this last week.  I don’t make soups all that often, so I was thinking about what to make.  I can make a good split pea, but I didn’t have a ham bone handy.  Tortilla? Maybe.  Clam chowder? Sounds like a good idea.  Wait a minute.  When I think of clam chowder, I think of New England clam chowder.  Our opponent in the Super Bowl is New England.  Yeah, that’s not happening.  So I decided to make a Pacific Northwest/Seattle style soup.  Luckily I have a salmon hookup.  My uncle Stu lives in Alaska.  He catches and smokes salmon then sends that magical stuff on down.  Thanks to my mom for letting me use it all too ;).

So yeah, I blow up all my stove elements the day before and have to use a portable electric skillet to cook this in.  Oops.  Little bit of a challenge, but I’ve got this.  I finished and wow was this good. I didn’t want to share :).  But I had to represent the PNW down here.  All of the soups entered in the competition were good.  In the end, I pulled out the victory, hopefully like my Hawks will do today!

I like to use a good potato soup as a base. Really wish I would have had some fish stock, but it was awesome anyway.  Play with the amount of salmon you add before to get it right.

Anyway, its a perfect day down here for Seattle football. Cold and rainy.  I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Go Hawks!!!

Ingredients:

• 10 ounces smoked salmon
• 3 russet potatoes – cubed
• 1 leek – middle only – sliced and roughly chopped
• 1/4 onion – finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic – minced
• 2 stalks celery – finely chopped
• 1 large carrot – finely chopped
• 1 bunch green onions – chopped
• 6 pieces of bacon – roughly chopped
• 2 cups heavy cream – warmed
• 4 cups milk – warmed
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 8 ounces clam juice
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cups flour
• 2 cups stock – I used chicken because I didn’t have any fish stock
• salt
• pepper

Set the cream and milk out for an hour before cooking.  Cook bacon until crispy, set aside.  In a large pot, cook carrot, celery, onion, leek, garlic, and potatoes in bacon fat over medium low heat until tender, about 10 minutes.  In another pot, melt butter over low heat and slowly stir in flour to make a roux.  Slowly stir in the cream and milk, incorporating it.  Add the clam juice, stock, and white wine.  Add vegetables to dairy mixture.  Break up most of the salmon into small pieces.  Save some salmon and green onions for topping the soup.  Add the salmon and half of the green onions to the soup.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Cook for another 20-30 minutes on medium-low or low, make sure potatoes are tender.  Serve in a warm bowl, topped with the onions and salmon crumbles.

Tags: bacon, chowder, gohawks, northwest, salmon, seahawks, seattle, smoked salmon, smoked salmon chowder, superbowl, superbowl 49

• February 1, 2015
• food
• 4 Comments