poblano corn salmon chowder

written by jim

this simple recipe functions with various types of fresh fish, used in combination with some fresh early-fall staples.  get your veggies from the farmer’s market right outside our door on wednesdays and saturdays!  most fish in our case will work nicely, but ask us! i’m a big fan of alaskan coho, atlantic salmon or norwegian sea trout with this recipe.

the inspiration here was a chowder made with chicken and developed by hank shaw, whose website and recipes are well curated and highly recommended.  most chowders feel like they should be served with a guiness in a bar harbor tavern while awaiting an incoming december nor’easter.  this is not that.  it’s lighter and has a nice brightness.  perfect for a partly cloudy 55 degree fall early evening in michigan.

you do have some flexibility in terms of the result of this one.  done as written you’ll wind up with a chunky soup in a relatively thin broth.  want it soupier?  use more stock.  want more mouthfeel?  blend a little more.  you could also replace the oregano with fish sauce, the cream with coconut milk, and the cholula with thai chili oil or sriracha and have a whole nother’ thing!  regardless of how you make it, enjoy this last blast of fresh, local summer fare!

what do i need for four servings?

2 medium poblano peppers – roasted, peeled and chopped

olive oil

3 ears of sweet corn – kernels removed, cobs broken in half and reserved

2 pints homemade or monahan’s fish stock 

1 medium white or yellow onion (about a cup) – chopped

2 or 3 cloves garlic – roughly diced

1 pound salmon – skinned and cut into 3/4-inch cubes

2 teaspoons dried mexican oregano

½ cup heavy cream

salt and pepper

hot sauce – cholula for me on this one

chopped scallion

lime wedges

how do i make it? 

roast your whole poblanos.  there are lots of ways to do this (some more fun than others): broil them; char them in a cast iron pan or directly on your gas burner (as giovani does in our kitchen!); cook them over high heat on your gas grill; or stab them with a kebab skewer and hit them with a propane torch.  in any case check and turn them often.  regardless of method, you want your peppers to be uniformly blistered with some blotchy black spots.  if some of the flesh burns don’t worry about it.  when done, put the peppers in a brown paper bag and fold it over to allow them to steam.  when cool enough to handle, remove the charred skin using your fingers or a sheet of paper towel and give them a rinse.  then remove the seeds and veins and chop the roasted flesh. 

while your peppers cool, combine your fish stock and 3 of your corn cob halves in a medium sauce pan.  bring to a simmer and let it go until ready for use.  add some water as needed to replace evaporated stock plus a little extra. 

in a large, heavy saucepan (you will need a soup pot or dutch oven if making a larger version of the recipe) heat some olive oil and saute your onions over medium heat.  season them up and  stir occasionally until they begin to soften and get a little color – maybe 12 minutes.  add your poblanos, season again, and go another 3 or 4 minutes, then add the garlic until it smells good – another minute.

strain the stock into the veggies.  then add the salmon, corn kernels, oregano, and lots of fresh ground pepper.  bring the soup to a boil then back down to a bare simmer.  cook for around 7 to 10 minutes or until the salmon is done (still plump and soft, but with a consistent coral color all the way through).  stir in the cream.  hit the soup with a couple blasts from a hand blender to thicken the texture a bit.  or remove a cup or so to a regular blender, pulse a few times and return (careful though, hot food in blenders can get dicey).  taste the soup and adjust the seasoning.

serve with a lime wedge, the scallions, and the hot sauce.  plate next to some last-of-the-season tomatoes and basil or fresh oregano with salt and pepper.  my wife is fairly gluten free so we skipped the bread, but a baguette would be good (aren’t they always?).  to drink?  a dos equis amber would be great.  so would any type of medium bubbly wine type thing – see our friends at everyday wines!  i went with hi neighbor from narragansett brewery in rhode island.  cheers!