Smoked Salmon, Clam, and Leek Chowder

This makes a honking huge batch of chowder, you’ll be glad you made this much after you taste it!

I had about a cup and a half smoked salmon from a dinner we had before. You could certainly omit the salmon, there’s plenty of meat in the huge can of clams, but this really amped up the flavor. You’ll notice here I used Minor’s Crab Base, but you could certainly use clam base or fish base or any other seafoody-type base. I was just out of clam base.

1 tablespoon garlic powder, 1 tablespoon onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper. Adjust this to your liking.

This smoked salmon was so good!

Melt 4 tablespoons butter in large dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat.

In the meantime, drain the clams and cook your potatoes in the clam juice (4 decent sized red potatoes, diced to about 1/2 inch). I have a strong aversion to uncooked potatoes, so I boiled until they were about 3/4 of the way cooked through, then took off the heat.

Saute your leak in the butter until translucent. This is one decent-sized leek, quartered and sliced. I find that leeks compliment soup so well.

Add 1/3 cup flour, and cook for several minutes to remove the overly flour-y taste.

Add back your potatoes and clam juice and cook several minutes to thicken.

Add clams, spices and 2 tablespoons of the crab/clam/fish base.

Add your celery. I like to add celery towards the end of soup cooking because I like mine with a little snap. If you prefer it to have less crunch, cook for several minutes longer.

Add your salmon and 1/3 cup heavy cream. Mix and cook until all is heated through.

This is delicious with sourdough bread.

And enjoy!

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Smoked Salmon, Clam and Leek Chowder

A hearty chowder with a delicious mix of flavors

Prep Time1 hour hr

Course: Soup

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Chowder

Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 51 oz can chopped clams
• 2 tablespoons crab/fish/clam base
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 1/2 cups smoked salmon
• 4 ribs celery diced
• 1 leek quartered and sliced
• 4 large red potatoes diced

Instructions

• Drain clams, reserving clam juice. Cook potatoes in clam juice until about 3/4 of the way cooked through. Saute chopped leek in butter until translucent over medium heat. Add flour and cook for a minute. Add potatoes and clam juice to leek roux. Add spices and crab base and cook for several minutes until thickened slightly. Add celery and cook until softened to your liking. Add smoked salmon and heavy cream and heat through.