Supreme Seafood Soup

All local seafood in a locally made bowl - by yours truly

We have a great tradition of cooking for new moms and their families here on Hornby. When a new baby is born, we cooking-ones schedule ourselves in an orderly fashion to supply the new family with a complete meal - cooked, delivered and served.

It was my turn Friday and I decided to make a seafood soup for this family of seaside dwelling divers and their new baby girl. (Baby participated via her mom).

I had made a salmon stock by simmering a giant sockeye salmon head (thanks Dan), tail and trimmings together with about 2 tsp fennel seeds, 1 tsp black pepper corns, two shallots, a small sprig of fresh ginger, a whole head of garlic, and a bay leaf.

Directly into the 2L of stock (after 12 hours of simmering) I put finely chopped vegetables: one fennel bulb, 2 medium carrots, 3 large celery stalks, one yellow and one red pepper. I then put about 500gms cooked salmon, 100gms candied smoked salmon and simmered until the vegetables were soft(ish).  

Even the compost from this soup fixin's is beautiful.  

At the very end, just before serving, I put in 12 shelled spotted prawns (tails on), 12 quartered local scallops and a couple of hands full of butter clams that we dug here on the island (thanks Dan). Finish with a pint of whole cream... a little seasoning with sea salt, sprinkle with the chopped leafy fennel greens and mm mm good! This is a heavenly soup. I especially love the sweetness the candied smoke salmon adds. Delish! Adding a little more seafood, a few more veggies and a bit of thickening tapioca, this would be dreamy on a bed of basmatti rice.