With food prices rising astronomically this Lenten season, I can’t help but envision my mother during similar financial squeezes. Every Sunday before Mass, she’d go through the food pages in the newspaper, clipping coupons with a manic glow on her face.
She’d come of age late in the Depression and made it through rationing as a new bride during the Second World War. Under the watchful eye of her own mother, a Slovakian immigrant who’d come through hard times of her own, Mom learned how to be thrifty to the utmost.
Lucky for us, she was also a good cook who knew how to make the most of sale items, be they fresh ingredients or the boxed and canned non-perishable goods with which she lined the shelves of the large pantry she always referred to as “the closet.”
Her culinary talent for turning sale staples into memorable meals lent itself particularly to sauces, stews and soups. And each year as Lent approaches, I think of the meatless soups and, most especially, the chowders she was so good at composing, often starting with a base of clams and their broth,
These Lenten soups – Manhattan and New England clam chowder, her own “vegetarian vegetable” and mixed seafood soup – were, as I recall, wonderful for warming up Friday nights in March. Years ago, I tinkered with recreating her corn and potato chowder.
Inspired by combinations on the internet, I added canned salmon as the seafood, mixing it with vegetable broth (so available these days), diced carrots and potatoes, sweet onion and light cream.
The result is a Salmon, Corn and Potato Chowder that, I hope, will warm the cockles of your heart. This is a good recipe to play with. I chose canned salmon as the key ingredient as it’s reasonable now, but the pricier clams, shrimp or scallops would work as well. I’ve used a pound of bay scallops when they are on sale or a half pound of medium shrimp which are often discounted in supermarkets during Lent.
Other vegetables – I’m thinking, sweet peas, mushrooms, and of course, chopped celery – would be good additions.
I often serve the chowder with a mixed green salad and crusty bread.
Salmon, Corn and Potato Chowder – serves four
Ingredients
– 6 tablespoons butter
– 2 large carrots, diced
– two large baking potatoes, diced
– 1/3 sweet onion, diced
– 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
– 2 cups vegetable broth
– 2 cups light cream
– 1 can corn kernels
– two 6 ounce cans of good quality, skinned and boned salmon
Directions: In a large, heavy saucepan, melt the butter. Then add the potatoes, carrots and onions and cook over medium heat stirring frequently for about 10 minutes until they are tender but not brown. Stir in the flour, salt and pepper. Gradually add the broth and light cream. Cook until it thickens a bit and gets bubbly but don’t boil. Add the corn and canned salmon, stir for a minute or two and then serve.
Tip: Flaked baked or broiled salmon filet leftovers are fine to use in this chowder and adding a few ounces of clam broth to the mix wouldn't hurt. From chopping the vegetables to serving the soup, it took less than 40 minutes to prepare.
Lois Rogers has been writing about faith, family and food (most notably in her award-winning blog, "Keeping the Feast" which has appeared in The Trenton Monitor) for most of her professional career. She may be reached at [email protected].
Photo by John Vachon - Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3444701
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