More 'tis the season for soup!: Seafood chowder

Recipe: Seafood chowder with smoked salmon and shrimp

Love the rain we're getting, but oh my, it's definitely soup season. Although it's not cold where I am compared with, for instance, winter in my original home in Minnesota, there's still a super-wet chill that seeps in through the walls and around the window frames of my 98-year-old home. Hot, luscious, nourishing soup is the answer! So warming, so comforting, so elemental. I imagine a cave thousands of years ago, a woman stirring a pot of soup over an open fire while her men-folk forage out in the cold and wet and her children, layered in fur blankets, stretch their hands toward the warming fire and dream about the good food to come. That's soup.

Believe it or not, I first got this recipe from a vegetarian cookbook, one of the early Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant. Some otherwise "vegetarians" include seafood in their diets, and I guess that's why this and a few other fish recipes were included. It's really easy and is versatile in that you can include various kind of fish and shellfish, and even various vegetables. Here's the version I usually make.

Seafood Chowder with Smoked Salmon and Shrimp

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup chopped onions
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 2 medium red or yellow potatoes, cubed
• 1 red or orange bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 cups chicken stock, or vegetable stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
• 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 4 ounces smoked salmon, roughly chopped*
• 8 or 10 medium-to-large raw shrimp*
• 1/2 cup whole milk or half-and-half
• Chopped fresh parsley
• Lemon wedges

*Fresh salmon or any kind of white fish can be used, cut in bite-sized pieces, instead of the smoked salmon and shrimp. Be sure to remove any small bones.

In a small stockpot or medium Dutch oven, saute the onions and garlic in the butter until the onions are translucent. Add the carrots, celery, and potatoes and saute gently for 5 minutes.

Add the bell pepper, stock, and herbs and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.

Add salt, pepper, and the salmon and shrimp and simmer 3 to 5 minutes, until the shrimp are just barely cooked.

Warm the milk slightly, in the microwave or on the stove, then stir it into the chowder. Serve garnished with parsley and lemon wedges to squeeze over.

Buon appetito!

This recipe is gluten-free.