Salmon Chowder

Due to the miserable cold, wet Brisbane weather this week, and my current ‘can’t be bothered chewing’ attitude, my soup obsession has well & truely spiraled out of control. As part of my mission to ‘Calm the f$ck down’ and not be such a Rushing Woman, (as per the book I am currently reading), I need to eat slower. Chew my food properly. Not do a million other things while I am eating. I am finding this VERY difficult. I hover my food. It’s not my fault, it’s what coming from a big family does to a person. Survival of the fittest. So because I am struggling to masticate (what a weird word) properly, I have taken the lazy way out & created food that I can drink 🙂 This probably defeats the purpose but it’s where I’m at right now.

Cream of Cauliflower soup was followed by Creamy Broccoli & Parsley soup this week and now we have reached the pinnacle of soups, the chowder. I have eaten chowder only once in San Francisco and never cooked it before so I would suggest I am hardly the expert on chowder. In saying that, I am the expert of my tastebuds & this tastes freaking tops so if it’s not “chowdery” enough for you then I say “NO SOUP FOR YOU”! Get it? Seinfeld? Oh whatever. Just eat the chowder. It’s good for you you. And it’s delicious. Go, get chowdering. What a cool word “chowdering”, use it in a sentence sometime this week please.

300g bacon, diced (preferably nitrate free if you can find it)
500g salmon fillets, chopped in half (skin and bones removed)
1 leek, sliced
2 cups carrots, diced into small pieces
1 litre chicken stock/bone broth or vegetable stock
500ml full fat coconut milk
1 tbs fresh dill
Salt & black pepper to taste

In a large soup pot, cook the bacon until it’s nice & crispy. Take out 1/2 the bacon & set aside. Add the leeks to the remaining bacon and continue to sauté until the leeks are tender. Add the carrots and cook until they start to soften. Add the stock, dill, salt & pepper and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat. Use a stick blender to blend this until smooth. Return to the heat, add the coconut milk, bring to the boil again then add the salmon fillets to the soup, make sure they are covered with the soup, and let simmer until they are easy to break apart. Gently flake the salmon pieces apart and stir gently. Serve in big bowls, sprinkle with a bit more fresh dill & the remaining bacon.