We had some lovely home-smoked trout left over from Reiver's birthday and he suggested that it might go well in a soup.

I've made fish chowder plenty of times before, but never with smoked fish. So I went looking for something that was tailored to smoked fish specifically. I found this one on the Food & Wine website. I will admit that I tweaked it slightly, but only slightly. I omitted the water called for. Used a regular commercial chicken broth (rather than low-sodium), but then omitted the salt. Halved the thyme. And, after tasting it at the end of cooking, decided to add in some corn and grated carrot as it seemed like it needed some more veg to balance it out and I usually put those in my chowders anyway.

Photo goes here.

Smoked Trout Chowder

Slightly adapted from Food & Wine

Ingredients

• 1-2 Tbsp. butter
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• 3-6 green onions, greens and whites kept separate and chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 450g potatoes, cut into 1cm dice
• 1/4 c. dry white wine
• 4 c. chicken stock
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 c. frozen corn kernels
• 1-2 carrots, peeled and grated
• 1 c. half-and-half (10% MF)
• 2 fillets smoked trout, skin removed and flesh flaked

Directions

1. Melt the butter over medium-low heat.
2. Add the celery, white parts of the green onions, and garlic and cook until softened (5-10 minutes).
3. Add the potatoes, wine, chicken stock, thyme, bay leaf, and pepper.
4. Increase heat to medium-high, bring to a boil, then reduce to medium and cook until potatoes are just tender (~15 minutes).
5. Stir in the corn and carrots.
6. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in the cream.
7. Cook for a few minutes, then stir in the trout.
8. Serve with crusty bread.