Jeanette - Off The Cuff

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My name is Jeanette, and I was born in Sweden. I've been a life long artist, and designer, who took a plunge into surface pattern design in 2022, currently selling at Spoonflower and Raspberry Creek.

Monday, May 11, 2015

Pistachio Cedar Planked Salmon, and Salmon Leek Chowder


Here are two easy and salmon recipes I made yesterday and today, all from one four-pound $20 whole salmon. If you can learn to fillet and debone your own fish, you can save so much money on seafood dishes. So here is Pistachio Crusted Cedar-Plank Salmon, and Salmon Leek Chowder.



We had 10 people over for Mother's Day Dinner, and prepared a whole salmon so we could cedar-plank the fillets and added chopped green onion and pistachio crust topping prior to grilling.  For a topping, I also made my Basil-Yogurt topping, but this time I used actual sour cream and lime juice, instead of lemon. I made some minor alterations to it, just because of what I had on hand.


Anyway, when we filleted the salmon, I set the tail, spine & other random scraps in a big ziplock bag back in the fridge, intending to make soup from it today. The chowder was completely "off the cuff" and I made it for lunch and I only took a few photos, and can't remember exactly what went into it, but I will say that it was really good! My husband raved about it being so fancy for a Monday lunch.

INGREDIENTS:
3/4 - 1 lb of salmon (depending on if you are using the starting point of bone scraps like I did, or using just a frozen fillet, or even canned salmon, you'll have to tinker with your cooking method a bit.)
1 Leek, washed, and cut lengthwise, and then sliced into half-moons
2-3 medium potatoes, such as red or Yukon Gold, peeled and cubed
Salt
Ground White Pepper
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sour cream
3-4 basil leaves, finely chopped
1/2 lime, or 1/4 lemon, juiced

The first step was that I boiled 6-8 cups of (filtered, because I have an aversion to chlorinated) water in a big stock pot, and popped the salmon bones & fins in the water. I added about 2 tsp of sea salt, and 1 tsp of ground white pepper. I let this simmer on medium heat for about 3-4 minutes. These remnant pieces are not very thick and the fish cooks very fast. I pulled out all the big pieces and set them on a plate and used the tines of a fork to flake off the meat from the bones and tail. Inspect it all carefully for stray bones. I was very cautious and still ended up finding a few bones in my soup later when I ate it.

Yeah, I know, it looks grotesque, but makes a good seafood broth!

Once you've gotten all the meat off (and we also happened to have one left over piece of fillet from the night before) set it aside for a little bit. Add the bones and scraps back into the pot of water, and keep simmering it for another 15 or 20 minutes. Strain it all out through a sieve, into a clean pot, and add 2-3 peeled and cubed potatoes, and one whole leek, sliced into chunks.

Just a few taters, and a leek... you could add other veggies too.
Return this strained broth with vegetables to the burner, and simmer on medium-low, until potatoes are tender.

Check out how much salmon came off the spine & tail!
Add salmon pieces, and allow to heat up for just a minute.

Reduce heat on burner, and wait until simmering nearly stops, and slowly stir in cream, sour cream, lime juice, and minced basil. (As you can probably deduce, I added the remaining basil-sour cream topping from the previous day's dinner to incorporate that brightness and tanginess to my chowder.)




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