Baked Haddock, Salmon Taste Test, and Awesome Chowder

My girls are now on their annual junket to Marco Island and once again I am animal sitting for two weeks – I would have flown down for one week had it not been for Covid-19 concerns.  While they are gone, I’ve decided to try out some different fish dishes beginning with one I know Bev is not particularly fond of – baked haddock.  I rarely see haddock in the local Food City and when I did, I had to buy a few filets and try to replicate the delicious baked fish dishes I’ve eaten in New England.  

The first one I tried was Crispy Baked Haddock from Julie on her Table For Two blog  and I decided to make one per the recipe and another with added shredded cheddar.  I liked them both but the topping was a little too powerful for my thin fish filets.

Even though she is not a big fish lover, SIL, Pat, bought a premium share in the Sitka Salmon coop as a treat for all of us.  The cost of the share is $129 for three monthly shipments of about 4.5 pounds of a variety of fish in season.  So far, we have received two deliveries and the first one included Coho and King (chinook) salmon so we decided a taste test was in order before the girls headed south – we love our taste tests.

In addition to the two Alaskan salmon for the test, we included some farm raised salmon from the local Food City, of unknown origin (a concern).  I seasoned them all with a little Tiger Seasoning, and some S&P, brushed with peanut oil, them grilled them all to an internal temp of 130F.

I added a small piece of each to our four (Bev, Cindy, Pat, me) plates and we each tasted and rated them.  The results were shocking as no one could tell much of a difference in any of them – but we are not connoisseurs.  I expected the King and Coho to be obviously better than the farm raised but they were not, so the main advantage to buying the pretty expensive Sitka shares seems to be to knowing what we are eating wild caught fresh fish.

No pics but they all looked the same except for the size and shape.

Before leaving for Florida, Bev had sent me a link to a bunch of chowders from Food & Wine and I decided to make one even though it was 84F outside – cold front was coming.  My first one to try was Corn, Crab, and Shrimp Chowder and I followed the recipe below with a couple of exceptions. 

Corn, Crab, and Shrimp Chowder- Adapted from Food & Wine

Ingredients:

6 cups chicken stock (Larry used our homemade)

1 lb large shrimp, cleaned, shells reserved (Larry chopped them)

3 corn (shucked, kernels cut off and cobs reserved)

½ tsp celery seeds

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 stick unsalted butter (cut into tablespoons)

1 yellow bell pepper, diced

1 large yellow onion, diced

3 celery ribs, diced

1 serrano chile (minced) Larry omitted

2 large baking potatoes, diced (Larry used red potatoes)

1 lb lump crabmeat (picked over) (Larry used canned claw meat)

1 qt heavy cream

Salt

Black pepper 

Note: I like to S&P each ingredient as it is added to the pan - I began with the veggies.

Directions:

1. In a large pot, bring the stock to a boil with the shrimp shells and corn cobs. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the cobs. Strain the stock through a fine sieve into a large, heatproof bowl, pressing on the shells to remove as much stock as possible. (Larry added water to get back to 6 cups). Wipe out the pot.

2. In a small skillet, toast the celery and fennel seeds over moderately high heat until fragrant and starting to pop, about 45 seconds. Let cool completely. In a spice grinder or mortar, grind or crush the seeds to a powder.

3. In the large pot, melt the butter over moderately high heat. Add the yellow pepper, onion, celery and chile and cook until they begin to soften, about 2 minutes. 

4. Add the ground fennel and celery seeds and cook for 1 minute. 

5. Add the potatoes and shrimp stock and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 8 minutes. Remove from the heat.

6. Stir the shrimp and crabmeat into the chowder. Cover and let stand until the shrimp turn pink on the outside, about 3 minutes. 

7. Stir in the heavy cream and corn kernels. (Since the corn was not very fresh, Larry added them at step 6).  Bring to a simmer over moderate heat; immediately reduce the heat to low and simmer gently until the shrimp are white throughout, about 3 minutes.

8. Taste and adjust seasonings.

You know it’s good soup when there is a skim of butter on the top.

Ladle into bowls and serve hot.

It was rich and delicious and a definite make again recipe - my neighbors called to advise that it was excellent.  Mine was thinner than I like for chowder, perhaps because I used waxy potatoes, so next time I’ll add some flour in with the butter and veggies and make a little roux to thicken it some.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

Early November dates