Tag Archives: food

The Real Breakfast of Champions

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Creamy roasted butternut squash filling on a flakey, buttery crust – top it off with a lightly salted & peppered sunny-side up egg and serve a cup of French Roast on the side. Good morning, Chignik Lake.

Pumpkin pie for breakfast – it’s either just after Thanksgiving or Christmas, or we’re nearing the end of another year in the bush. In fact, we’re almost having to pinch ourselves to get our heads around the fact that there are just four days till the end of Barbra’s school year. With a very early summer vacation in sight, we’ve been in the process of clearing out our freezer. Several months ago we roasted and freezer-packed  a couple of butternut squashes. When we rediscovered them last weekend, they were still in excellent condition thanks to our manual defrost freezer.

Having never perfected crusts, I got out of the pie baking business when I married Barbra, but she still uses my pumpkin pie filling recipe – an adaptation from Craig Claiborne’s The New York Times Cookbook. She put a bush twist on the recipe this time, substituting Hoosier Hill Farm Premium Heavy Cream Powder for real heavy cream, which can be notoriously difficult to get out to the bush. The pie came out just fine.

And so this past week we’ve been starting our mornings right with one of our favorite breakfasts: Pumpkin Pie with a Fried Egg and a cup of joe. Our sparrows have begun returning, Cranes are starting to nest up on Black Lake, the bears are up and about and this morning I think I saw a salmon jump down at the bend. C’mon summer!

For our favorite pumpkin pie/squash pie recipe, see: A Cookbook for the Ages: Pumpkin and Pecan Pies from Craig Claiborne

3 Easy Steps & 16 Minutes to Perfection: Pork Chops Cooked “Just Right” Every Time

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Consistency is a key to turning out a perfectly cooked cut of meat. We’ve been following this straightforward recipe to turn out “just right” pork chops on stovetops, grills and even countertop toaster-ovens for years

Time tested and true, there are three keys to this recipe:

1. Start with a thick pork chop. Costco offers an excellent value on a package of exactly the kind of boneless pork loin chops this recipe calls for. If Costco quantities are too much, visit your local butcher. You want a two-inch thick (5 cm) chop, preferably one with a bit of fat.

2. Pick a great rub. Our favorites feature a balance of powdered chilis such as ancho, cayenne, Aleppo and chipotle as well as other seasonings such as mesquite, black pepper and paprika. Penzeys Southwest Seasoning or their Northwest Fire are good examples.

3. Use a sufficiently thick frying pan (one with a lid) to ensure even heating and to avoid burning the meat. Nonstick Swiss Diamond and Scanpan cookware handle heat well and make clean-up a breeze. Good stainless steel or well-seasoned cast iron pans are also good choices.

Once you’ve got the pork chop, the rub and the pan ready, the rest is a breeze. We find that one Costco-sized chop served with rice is plenty for two diners. In fact, we often have enough left over for a killer omelet the following morning.

I should add a note here: Stoves and pans vary. You may have to fine tune the heat, but once you’ve got it, you’ve got it. The same approach works for perfecting your favorite cut of steak, chicken breasts or thighs, or fish fillets.

Click here for an easy raspberry chipotle sauce.

16-minute Perfect Pork Chop

Ingredients

1 pork chop, 2 inches thick, rinsed and patted dry

chili based rub such as Penzeys Southwest Seasoning

soy sauce (or substitute sea salt)

1 or 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

Gently rub in a generous amount of seasoning on all sides

Meanwhile, in a frying pan, heat olive oil at a little higher than medium heat till it’s sizzling hot. Don’t allow it to smoke.

Set timer to 16 minutes and place chop in pan. Cover and cook for 1 minute to sear. Use tongs to turn the cutlet to the other side, lower temperature to medium-low, cover and allow to cook for 8 minutes.

Turn chop back to the side you first seared, drizzle with soy sauce, cover and cook for the remaining 7 minutes.

Remove chop and place on a wooden cutting board. Cover with a bowl or tent loosely with aluminum foil and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

Cut into two pieces. Top with raspberry chipotle sauce and serve with rice, couscous or potatoes.

Another $8 Cookie, Please

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The best chocolate chip cookie on the planet? There’s one way to find out!

Break out all the best ingredients you’ve been hoarding and make yourself a batch of these…now!

A couple of years ago, I read about a cookie that really sells for $8. Could I create a cookie worth such a price? Oh boy, yes! The secret to this cookie is not gold flecks or a butler to serve it, but fine ingredients and an investment of some time. The recipe demands high quality chocolates, browned butter, toasted almonds, and vanilla paste. Serving them slightly cooled from the oven is a key to the experience. I make a batch of dough, cookie scoop out portions and freeze them. When we are in the mood for these decadent beauties, I pop a couple in the oven while we are eating dinner in order to serve them as a perfectly warm $8 dessert.

The $8 Cookie

Ingredients

  • 1 large egg
  • 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
  • 3 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup unsalted butter, browned
  • 2 tsp vanilla paste
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • pinch salt
  • 1/3 cup toasted almonds, chopped
  • 1/3 cup good quality milk chocolate chips
  • 1/3 cup good quality white chocolate, chopped

Directions

  1. Mix the sugars and the egg well.
  2. Add in the browned butter.
  3. Mix in vanilla paste and almond extract.
  4. Stir flour, baking soda and salt into the mixture.
  5. Fold in the almonds and chocolate pieces.
  6. Chill the dough for at least 1 hour.
  7. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  8. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C).
  9. Scoop tablespoon-sized balls using a small ice cream scoop onto the baking sheet. Bake for 8 – 10 minutes.
  10. Let the cookies set on the baking sheet for about 3 minutes before removing them to a wire cooling rack.
  11. Continue to cool for another two minutes on the wire rack.
  12. Serve cookies while still warm.

Makes 12 cookies.

Move Over Bacon – Smoked Wild Salmon Fried Rice

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A dollop of homemade ikura adds a tasty finishing touch to a bowl of Alaskan soul.

You know it’s a good day when a recipe for bacon fried rice shows up in your inbox. That’s just what happened a few days ago when our blog friend Chef Mimi posted a recipe for this very dish. Who doesn’t love fried rice? The slightly nutty flavor of sautéed day-old rice tossed with scrambled eggs and onions is a regular on menus from Kodiak to Kyoto. Add bacon, and a favorite truism comes into play: anything is better with bacon. Right?

Well, we actually didn’t ship out any bacon in our annual shopping this past year. Don’t worry, we’re hardly turning vegan. 😉 We just decided that as much as we love the flavor, the texture, the – well, everything – about bacon, it really isn’t good for our health. We’ve discovered that we can substitute smoked salmon in most recipes that call for bacon and be very satisfied.

Enter Chef Mimi’s recipe for bacon fried rice. A quick check of our pantry revealed that we had on hand most of the ingredients she uses and delicious substitutions for those we didn’t. A swap of smoked salmon for bacon, a switch of snow peas for petite peas, a few extra splashes of flavors we have around and, voila, we came up with an Alaska twist which came out beautiful and delicious. We give you Smoked Wild Salmon Fried Rice.

Smoked Wild Salmon Fried Rice

Ingredients

  • 4 cups cooked rice, leftover rice works great
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp lime juice
  • 1 tbsp mirin
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 1/2 cups diced sweet onion such as Walla Walla
  • 1/4 cup chopped garlic
  • 1/2 cup diced carrots
  • 1 cup chopped snow peas
  • 3/4 cup canned corn
  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 8 oz. smoked salmon

Directions

  1. Set out cooked rice to bring to room temperature.
  2. In a small bowl, mix together fish sauce, lime juice, soy sauce, and mirin. Set aside.
  3. In a large pan, heat oil over medium-high heat.
  4. Sauté onions for about 2 minutes.
  5. Add garlic and continue to cook for about 2 additional minutes.
  6. Add carrots and sauté for another 2 minutes.
  7. Mix in snow peas and corn. Cook for an additional minute.
  8. Gently stir in rice. Let mixture heat thoroughly.
  9. Make a well in center of pan.
  10. Add eggs and scramble them in the well.
  11. When eggs are just cooked through, add in salmon.
  12. Stir entire mixture so that all ingredients are evenly distributed.
  13. Toss the rice mixture with fish sauce mixture.
  14. Optionally, garnish with green onions, or salmon roe.
  15. Serve immediately.

 

 

 

Fancy Prices & Fancy Ingredients? Don’t Bother. Try this Easy, Zesty Raspberry Chipotle Sauce Recipe

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A little sweet and a little heat, this couldn’t-be-easier raspberry chipotle sauce brings another dimension to Thai-spiced scallops (above), broiled fish fillets, chicken, pork, wild game and grilled vegetables.

The past two years, we’ve been able to pick a surfeit of big, beautiful raspberries from a patch gone ferrel a half-mile from our home here on Chignik Lake. Barbra takes this fruit and turns out tangy freezer jam as well as traditional jam. The jams in turn go into airy raspberry mousse, raspberry almond tarts, mixed with our steel cut oats for breakfast, stirred into our homemade yogurt, drizzled onto lemon bars and cheesecakes, and spread on our peanut butter sandwiches. We even add a touch of raspberry to one of our favorite cocktails, Raspberry Bourbon Berets.

One of my favorite ways to use our jam is in raspberry chipotle sauce. It’s quick, it’s easy, it keeps well in the fridge, and it’s absolutely terrific on fish, pork and poultry. The directions couldn’t be easier, and your favorite store-bought raspberry jam will probably work fine. Try this on salmon fillets.

Raspberry Chipotle Sauce

Ingredients & Directions

Mix together 1/2 cup raspberry jam, 1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, and 1/2 teaspoon powdered chipotle pepper. Alternatively, you can substitute a favorite powdered chile blend, but choose one with a good amount of chipotle as the smokey flavor really compliments fish, meat and poultry.

Hope you’re sitting down for this one! Chocolate Tahini Overnight French Toast

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Overnight chocolate tahini french toast – Sunday brunch is served.

If you have been following along, you’ll know that we get most of our groceries delivered via the United State Postal Service. The majority of our food mail comes from either Amazon or our “local” Fred Meyer grocery store 466 roadless miles away in Anchorage. The same goes for our co-workers here at the Lake. Once in a while, one of my colleagues receives a wrong order or too much of something and I become the recipient of some kind of random ingredient. When that happens, I like to imagine that I’m a contestant on one of those cooking shows that presents the competitors with a basket of ingredients – usually showcasing something foreign or little-known to the chef. Of course, I have the luxury of time and the Internet to compliment my culinary imagination.

My last “gift,” a jar of tahini, has been sitting on my shelf for a few weeks. Tahini is best described as a peanut-butter style condiment made from sesame seeds. It has a nutty flavor. But is has a sharpness to it, in my opinion, that can overtake the flavor. My first experience with tahini was as an ingredient in hummus. I actually prefer making hummus without tahini (see my recipe here).

So, the jar had been sitting, waiting for inspiration, until last Sunday. While perusing the culinary blogs I follow, I came across an article for chocolate tahini challah buns from Smitten Kitchen. The buns were beautiful. The idea of chocolate and tahini together evoked memories of a delicious treat I used to regularly enjoy – chocolate halvah – a rich Middle Eastern confection made of sesame flour and honey. Eggy challah bread is something I enjoy making and we both enjoy eating. This seemed like the perfect recipe to try on a baking Sunday.

We opted to drizzle a lemony glaze atop our buns and absolutely loved them. Yum! They were were loaded with complimentary flavors and weren’t overly sweet, making them worth the investment of time they required. (Be ready for hours to let the dough rise.) An abject lack of willpower had us eating half the buns on the day they were baked. But that meant more than half the buns were left over the next day. They were already partially dried out and had lost their appeal. How to resurrect them? A stroke of brilliance followed. A great way to revitalize day old bread is to turn it into overnight French toast.

Our review? Holy smokes! Forget eating the buns on the first day and go straight to the overnight French toast! The challah soaked up the creamy, eggy mixture and puffed up to a golden brown when baked. The swirled flavors of the chocolate and tahini couldn’t be beat. The presentation of lovely chocolate stripes sprinkled with sesame seeds and drizzled with a lemony glaze is a guaranteed home run for your next Sunday brunch, or Monday breakfast, or Tuesday dinner. 😉

Chocolate Tahini Overnight French Toast

Ingredients

  • 4 or 5 chocolate tahini challah buns, enough to fill the baking dish (see recipe below)
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • ½ cup whole milk
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 4 tbsp granulated sugar

Directions

  1. Lightly grease an 8 x 8 inch glass baking dish.
  2. Cut buns into 9 pieces, 3 slices in one direction and then 3 slices in the other (think tic-tac-toe.
  3. Spread the bun cubes evenly in baking dish.
  4. Mix together eggs, milk, cream, vanilla, and sugar.
  5. Pour egg mixture over cubes. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
  6. Remove the baking dish from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.
  7. Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C).
  8. Cover dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
  9. Uncover and continue baking for 25 – 30 minutes. Surface should be lightly browned and the center will be firm.

Chocolate tahini bun

Chocolate Tahini Challah Buns

Recipe from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

Dough

  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the counter
  • 1 packet instant yeast
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • Butter for baking pan

Filling

  • 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/4 cup tahini, well-stirred
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • Sesame seeds

Glaze

  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons juice

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, yolk, sugar, oil and milk.
  2. Add flour, yeast and salt.
  3. Mix until it comes together. Continue to knead dough for 5 to 7 minutes.
  4. Oil a large bowl and let dough rise at room temperature for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until slightly shy of doubled.
  5. Butter a 9×13-inch or equivalent size baking dish, or coat it with nonstick spray.
  6. Melt butter and chocolate together until smooth.
  7. Stir in powdered sugar, cocoa and tahini. Mixture should be a spreadable consistency.
  8. Assemble buns. On a very well-floured counter, roll out dough into a rectangle about 18 inches wide (side facing you) and as far away from you (i.e. length) as it comfortably goes, usually 12 to 15 inches.
  9. Dollop chocolate mixture over and spread it over dough evenly.
  10. Roll dough in a tight spiral.
  11. Cut log very gently — it’s going to be a soft mess, use a sharp serrated knife, sewing thread works well here too — into 1 1/2-inch to 2-inch segments.
  12. Arrange cut side up in prepared pan.
  13. Beat egg in small bowl. Brush tops of buns and tops of sides with egg and cover with plastic wrap.
  14. Leave it at room temperature to proof for another 60 to 90 minutes, until puffed a bit.
  15. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
  16. Gently brush tops and sides with egg wash again and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden-bronzed.
  17. Let cool slightly.
  18. Whisk glaze ingredients until smooth.
  19. Drizzle this over the buns right before serving.

Leftovers? Or Canned Salmon’s all You’ve Got? No Worries. Salmon Avocado Sandwich

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Whip up this restaurant-worthy salmon sandwich in no time with a can of salmon, an avocado, and a couple of ingredients you probably already have on hand. Serve it with something creative from your Soda Stream (that’s a Currant Fizz in the photo) or a glass of sparkling water with a slice of lemon.

Canned salmon is cost-effective, convenient and delicious. In fact, a lot of us who catch all the salmon we need to get us through the year can our own. It’s great in salmon burgers, salmon dip, salmon sausage, as a pasta topping or in any number of other recipes. When we lived in Mongolia, canned Alaskan salmon was the only salmon readily available. We always have this versatile, tasty ingredient in our pantry. Of course, you can easily make this sandwich with grilled or broiled salmon – or leftovers. We’ve made this sandwich with all of that, and have found king, red, silver and pink salmon all to work nicely. For environmental reasons, we don’t use Atlantic salmon.

Ingredients & Directions for Salmon Spread (makes 2 sandwiches)

In a bowl, combine.

Taste for salt and seasoning and set aside.

Ingredients & Directions for Avocado Spread

In a bowl, combine:

  • 1 avocado
  • 1 tsp lime juice
  • 1/2 tsp chipotle based spice mix
  • a little Cholula Chili Lime or similar hot sauce

Spread the two spreads on a toasted bun. Serve with tangy beverage such as sparkling water with a slice of lemon or a crisp ale.

Rise and Roast! Sunday Morning Stout Slow Cooked Moose

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Aromas of mushrooms, tarragon, Italian herbs and root vegetables pulled together with a sweet, rich coffee stout make the temptation to steal a taste of this moist, nearly falling apart roast irresistible.

With winter hurling itself at us one more time last weekend and with a two-and-a-half pound cut of moose in the fridge, I decided it would be the perfect day to try something new – a slow-cooked roast. While I had in my imagination something beef brisket like, moist and practically falling apart, having never cooked anything like that, I wasn’t really sure how to go about the task. The cut of moose I had was very lean. Meanwhile, Barbra’s home-brewed Sunday Morning Stout, a rich, sweet, dark beer with a hint of coffee had just finished bottle-aging. How about a slow-cooked Sunday Morning Moose Roast?

I’m happy to report that after six hours in the oven, the roast came out moist, flavorful and pulling apart with ease. That evening, we served this dish on rice with a wonderful bottle of Malbec while snow fell outside our dining room window. Over the following days, the moose was featured in omelets, pulled moose barbecue sandwiches (yum!), on lumaca rigata pasta (the hollow shape captured the broth perfectly), and, once the moose meat was gone, as a hearty vegetable soup.

This dish was surprisingly easy. Although I prepared it in a sauteuse in the oven, I’m sure this recipe would work well in a slow cooker. Canned soup soup or broth could be substituted for the from-scratch broth described below, but don’t skimp on the stout. Use a generous amount of a good one. Beef or lamb would no doubt be delicious in this recipe as well. Add a few chunks of rutabaga or parsnips for additional flavor.

Sunday Morning Moose Roast

You will need an oven-safe sauteuse with a lid or a lidded pot large enough to hold the meat and vegetables. Alternatively, a slow-cooker can be used.

Ingredients

  • 2 to 3 pound cut of meat suitable for roasting. I used moose shoulder.
  • 4 cups dehydrated mushrooms* (or use 1 pound fresh mushrooms and beef or mushroom broth)
  • 1 cup cream
  • 16 ounces of a favorite stout beer (I used a coffee stout)
  • small whole potatoes
  • (optional) rutabaga, parsnips or other root vegetables, cut into chunks
  • 3 shallots, sliced (or substitute 1 sweet onion)
  • 1 bulb garlic, cloves peeled and slightly crushed, but left whole
  • carrots cut into chunks (or use baby carrots)
  • 2 or 3 stocks of celery, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
  • Worcestershire Sauce
  • freshly cracked black pepper
  • sea salt
  • tarragon
  • Italian herb blend
  • extra virgin olive oil

Directions

  1. Place oven rack on next to lowest level. Preheat oven to 220° F.
  2. Season meat liberally on all sides with cracked pepper and sea salt. Set aside.
  3. Place dehydrated mushrooms in a sauteuse or other sufficiently large pan and add water to hydrate – about 6 to 8 cups. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to simmer till mushrooms are tender.
  4. Remove mushrooms and set aside but keep the mushroom broth.
  5. Stir cream into the mushroom broth, add tarragon, Worcestershire sauce and sea salt to taste. Continue cooking at a high simmer until broth is slightly reduced.
  6. Stir in stout and add Italian herb blend. Continue simmering over low heat.
  7. Meanwhile, in a separate frying pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add shallots and garlic and sauté until just soft. Add shallots and garlic to mushroom broth.
  8. Remove pan from heat. Place seasoned meat into broth.
  9. Add mushrooms and all the vegetables except for the celery, arranging them in the liquid around the meat. There should be sufficient liquid to cover just over half the roast.
  10. Cover the pan and place into oven.
  11. After 4 hours, add the celery. Cover and continue cooking for two more hours.
  12. After 6 hours, remove pan from oven. Taste broth to determine if additional salt or seasonings are needed.
  13. Serve over rice, on pasta or as is. Accompany with the same stout used in cooking, or with a full-bodied red wine such as a Zinfandel, Cabernet or Malbec.

*The Dried Gourmet Mushroom Mix from the Wild Mushroom company works particularly well in this dish.

Sunshine on a Snowy Day – Raspberry Lemon Curd Bars

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Sunshine on a winter’s day… Lemon bars drenched in tangy-sweet raspberry jam

I love chocolate – in every form, flavor, and dish. I love dark, white, and milk chocolate. Except for a weird, avant-garde chocolate bar infused with pepper (??), I can’t think of a chocolate creation I haven’t enjoyed. Almost neck-in-neck with chocolate are desserts made with lemon. The difference with lemon is that it not only has a wonderfully tart flavor, but it also has a strong seasonal connection to summer. One bite or sip of lemon brings me back to sunshine splashed afternoons and evenings cooled by gentle breezes sitting in our little piece of paradise behind our home in California among Meyer lemon trees. When we moved to Alaska, I even made up a gallon’s worth of Meyer lemon simple syrup in order to ease the separation from those prolific trees.

As we hit the middle of March, our minds drift toward Spring! In our former life, I would be itching to get the planting pots and garden beds ready. In Chignik Lake, I’m ready to pull the Pack Rafts out and head down nearby rivers. Mother Nature has had three little words in response to these inclinations…”Not. So. Fast.” All the snow we didn’t see this past winter has been just now swirling around our windows and creating lovely white drifts. Our lake iced over, started to thaw, and is now covered in ice again.

As Jack tends to his culinary diversion, a slow-cooked moose roast, I decide on my own diversion…one that will bring a little sunshine into our home. I took a tried and true lemon curd bar recipe from my Williams and Sonoma Baking Book and adapted it with items from my bush pantry. All I can say is Wowee! After the initial mix of sweet and tart lemon, you are rewarded with a blanket of pure raspberry bliss. A definite blast of summer, in the best way possible.

Raspberry Lemon Curd Bars

Ingredients

Crust

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • pinch salt
  • pinch cinnamon
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, melted

Filling

  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • pinch salt
  • 3 large eggs (I used powdered eggs)
  • ½ cup lemon juice (I used good quality bottled lemon juice)
  • 3 tbsp heavy whipping cream

Topping

  • Raspberry jam (I used freezer jam which has a much brighter color and flavor)
  • Confectioners’ sugar

Directions

  1. Make crust.
  2. Preheat oven to 350° F (180° C).
  3. Grease an 8-inch square glass baking dish.
  4. Mix crust ingredients together.
  5. Press dough into bottom of baking dish.
  6. Bake for 20 minutes. Crust should be a pale golden color.
  7. Let the crust cool in the baking dish on a wire rack while you prepare filling.
  8. Reduce oven temperature to 325° F (165° C).
  9. Whisk together filling ingredients.
  10. Pour the mixture over the baked crust.
  11. Bake until filling is set, about 20 minutes. It may slightly jiggle when dish is shaken.
  12. Let lemon bars cool in the dish on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes.
  13. When ready to serve, run a knife around the edge of the pan. Cut into 12 or 16 rectangles.
  14. Remove from dish with a spatula and place pieces to be served on a serving dish.
  15. Spoon desired amount of jam on each piece.
  16. Dust each piece with confectioners’ sugar right before serving.

Not yet done with Winter: White Bean & Butternut Salmon Sausage Soup

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A great read,* a hot bowl of soup, memories of last fall and dreams of summer…

A cold snap has fallen on Chignik Lake. Middle March, and once again our our world in this remote corner of Alaska is blanketed in snow. This morning we woke to find our lake glassed off with ice, the flocks of Goldeneyes and Scaup that had gathered in the view out our window gone to find open water. Now and then our resident family of otters appears on the ice to take advantage of new fishing opportunities in mid-lake openings, happy to bask in the late morning sunshine. The silver bright salmon of last autumn have long since spawned and died.

As recently as January there were still a few late-run salmon clinging to life in feeder streams. Even those fish are gone by now, returned to gravel stream beds, becoming nutrients in the web of life their offspring will soon depend upon. Even the char have disappeared, huddled together somewhere in deep water, waiting for spring.

March is a month for tying flies and sorting through gear, a month for evening games of Scrabble and tucking into a good book. March is a month when the next generation of salmon are stirring in their redds and you imagine those tiny fish and even though the water is covered with fresh ice,  you think to yourself, “Spring is coming.”

March is a good time to make big pots of soups and big plans for summer. This soup is one of our favorites. I prepared the salmon sausage without using eggs and I added chorizo to give it some zip. I seasoned the sausage with an Italian herb blend and added additional ground fennel, which came through nicely. It’s soup, so experiment with ingredients to make it your own.

White Bean & Butternut Salmon Sausage Soup

Ingredients

  • 6 cups white beans (3 16oz cans)
  • 1 butternut squash, roasted or steamed until tender, rind removed, cut into cubes (or used canned pumpkin or squash)
  • 6 cloves of garlic, sliced thin
  • 1 shallot, sliced thin (or substitute a small sweet onion)
  • 3 cups chicken broth (enough broth to thin the bean & squash mixture)
  • 1 or 2 lbs salmon sausage (see recipe here). Or substitute any sausage.
  • sea salt
  • 1 tablespoon of a favorite spicy mix featuring powdered chipotle (See “Jack’s”)
  • olive oil

Directions

  1. Add a tablespoon or 2 of olive oil to a frying pan and heat over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and sauté until soft. Remove from heat and set aside.
  2. Using a stick blender, food processor or conventional blender, purée the beans, squash, garlic and shallots, adding chicken broth as you do this to create a thick soup.
  3. Add the purée to a large pot. Add additional chicken broth to achieve desired consistency. Stir in seasonings, bring to a simmer and cook for a few minutes. Taste to determine how much salt is needed and if additional seasoning is required.
  4. Add the salmon sausage and gently stir in. Allow to simmer for a few more minutes.
  5. Ladle into serving bowls, drizzle with a favorite olive oil, and serve piping hot.

*A River Never Sleeps, Roderick Haig-Brown, 1946