Finnish Salmon Soup, or Lohikeitto, is a basic Nordic salmon chowder and an ameliorating brief dinner made with a light cream stock, dissolve in-your-mouth pieces of salmon, and huge loads of new dill!
I’m fixated on this sound Finnish soup (in Sweden the soup is called Laxsoppa, in Norway, Fiskesuppe.) It’s totally basic thus fulfilling ~ made with new salmon, thick potatoes, carrots, and leeks. The flavors are simple and clean, with a customary dill implanted stock contacted with allspice. I make it in the spring, obviously, when wild salmon is in season, however it’s gotten one of my number one winter dinners, as well. It’s solid solace food.
The way in to an extraordinary fish soup is the stock
There’s just one hitch to making an incredible fish soup, and that is the stock. A large portion of us don’t have astounding new fish stock in the refrigerator, and canned stock isn’t the best quality, so we need to get inventive.
My hand crafted fish stock hack
I’ve thought of an approach to make a very decent fish stock substitute and it begins with purchasing salmon with the skin on. I eliminate it and stew it in water to make a fast stock. A fast strain and it’s prepared to utilize. The flavor improves the following day after the flavors have gotten an opportunity to create.
Ingredients
- 1 lb skin-on salmon filet
- 4 Tbsp unsaltd butter
- 1 large leek, trimmed, sliced, and well rinsed
- 5 cups water (you can also use fish stock)
- 1 lb russet potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1 large carrot, sliced
- 1 cup fresh dill for garnish, finely chopped, divided
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 tsp allspice, use more to taste
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Remove the skin from the salmon and cut into largish chunks. Remove any small pin bones and discard. Reserve the skin.
- Melt the butter in a soup pot and saute the leeks for 10 minutes, or until nice and soft.
- While the leeks are cooking, put 5 cups of water and the reserved fish skin in a saucepan and bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Note: if you are using fish stock you can skip this step.
- Strain the broth and add to the pan with the leeks, along with the potatoes, carrots, and half of the fresh dill. Cook for another 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are just tender.
- Add the salmon chunks to the soup along with the cream and allspice, and gently simmer on low heat until cooked through, just a few minutes. Add the remaining dill, and salt and pepper to taste.
notes and variations
- If you can get your hands on great fish stock, by all means use it! Clam broth can also be used. I’ve sometimes even used clam juice as a base for fish soup.
- I’ve occasionally made this soup with hot smoked salmon (the kind that comes in a chunk) and it gives great flavor.
- Serve this soup with some rustic artisan style bread ~ rye or pumpernickel would be amazing! I have a great recipe for Pumpernickel Biscuits on the blog which would be perfect with this Finnish salmon soup
- Consider doubling the recipe so you can have the leftovers the next day, it gets even better!
Nutrition
Calories: 576kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 27g | Fat: 41g | Saturated Fat: 22g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 174mg | Sodium: 193mg | Potassium: 1165mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 4190IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 89mg | Iron: 2mg
