Salmon chowder
Tender chunks of salmon, potatoes and sweet corn in a creamy, dill-flecked chowder, a gorgeous pink-and-gold bowl that tastes like the Pacific Northwest.
- 50 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $4.55 a serving
- 550 calories
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 3 slices bacon, chopped
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb Yukon Gold potatoes, diced
- 1 lb salmon fillets, skin removed, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2 chicken bouillon cubes, check the box: most cubes make 2 cups each
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1½ cups milk
- 2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
- ½ lemon, juiced
From your pantry
- 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 3 cups water
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 550 calories, 34 g protein, 43 g carbs and 27 g fat, and costs about $4.55 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No Yukon Gold potatoes? Russet potatoes or red potatoes work.
- No frozen corn? Canned corn works.
- No milk? Half-and-half works.
- No lemons? Limes work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the bacon, the onion, celery and potatoes, and the garlic. Cut the salmon into 1-inch pieces, the skin off with your knife.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Dolly’s tip: Lay the salmon skin side down, slip the knife between skin and flesh at one end, and slide it along while holding the skin tight.Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
Cook the bacon in a large pot over medium heat until , about 6 minutes. Lift it out onto a paper towel, leaving the fat.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium heatTimer: 6 min
Food safety: Cook bacon until it’s crisp and no longer translucent.
Add the onion and celery and cook for 5 minutes, until soft, then stir in the garlic and flour for 1 minute.
Medium heatTimer: 6 min
Slowly in the water, in the bouillon cubes, add the potatoes and .
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
Crumble. Crumbling means breaking food into small, rough bits with your fingers or a spoon, like feta or ground meat in the pan. Small bits spread through the dish, so there’s some in every bite.
How you’ll know: The pieces are small and uneven, about pea-size, with no big clumps left.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Turn the heat to low, cover and for 12 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 13 min 30 sec
Stir in the corn and milk and heat until steaming, without letting it .
Boil. Boiling means heating a liquid until big bubbles rise and break all over the surface. It’s the fastest way to cook pasta, potatoes and eggs, because it’s as hot as water gets.
How you’ll know: Bubbles are breaking across the whole surface, not just at the edges, and steam is rising.
Low heatTimer: 3 min
Add the salmon and simmer gently for 4 to 5 minutes, until it turns opaque and flakes when pressed with a fork.
Low heatTimer: 4 min 30 sec
Food safety: Fish is done at 145°F, when the middle looks opaque and flakes apart easily with a fork.
Stir in the dill, lemon juice and pepper, taste for salt, and serve with the bacon crumbled on top.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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