Salmon Chowder

My husband grew up Catholic, and so he naturally craves fish and chowders during this time of the year.  While your average chowder will be packed full of dairy and flour, this one has neither of those ingredients.  And yet it's still delicious!  Dare I say... it's even TASTIER?

I used canned salmon in my chowder, because as I've mentioned before, we are quite poor right now with Will back in school.  And a soup is such a great way to use the more bland canned food, since there are so many other flavors in it to "help" it out.  You could use fresh, of course, but I thought it tasted great with the canned.

In any case, this is a great cold weather, rainy day kind of recipe.  (I live in Seattle now, so I seem to have a lot of those days.)

Note: this recipe also calls for white potatoes, which we also eat due to budgetary restraints.  If white potatoes aren't in your diet, consider using leeks, celery or more carrots to "bulk up" your stew.

Serves 6.

The Tools: 

-6 qt. crockpot

-1 14.5 oz can salmon (or similar amount of fresh salmon)
-1 14.5 oz can coconut milk
-4 cups turkey stock (or chicken stock - I just happened to have turkey stock around since we're just past Thanksgiving)
-12 oz. bacon
-5 russet potatoes, chopped into bite-sized pieces
-3 carrots, chopped
-1/2 onion, chopped
-2 cloves garlic, diced
-1 bay leaf
-1 T dill
-1 t black pepper
-1 t sea salt
-1 t thyme
-1/2 t red pepper flakes

The Process:

Fry bacon on stove top until crispy.  Remove from heat, let cool.  Chop into small pieces and plop in crockpot.

Add all other ingredients except salmon.

Cook on LOW for 6 hours.

Open your can of salmon and drain it.  Thoroughly check it over for bones and then add to the chowder.

Cook on HIGH for 1 more hour.

Serve with a bit of dill for garnish if you desire to make it bit more fancy.  Enjoy!

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