26. Salmon Chowder

Last week I made Salmon Chowder from the Better Homes and Gardens Good Meals on a Budget cookbook. It was the first time I used canned salmon. I guess I expected it to look like canned tuna when I opened the can—nice clean chunks magically fitting snuggly in the can. I knew I would have to clean out the skin and bones, but was quite surprised when I opened the salmon can. What I found was a hacked up hunk of salmon jammed into the can full of bones and skin. I don’t think canned salmon is a time saver at all. It would be almost as quick, and much neater and tastier to poach a piece of fresh salmon.

Salmon Chowder

1 16 oz can pink salmon
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons margarine or butter
1 10 ¾ can condensed Cheddar cheese soup
¼ cup reconstituted nonfat dry milk
1 16 oz can tomatoes, cut up
1 tablespoon snipped parsley

Drain salmon, reserving liquid: remove skin and bones, then flake. Cook onion in margarine till tender but not brown. Add soup; gradually blend in reserved salmon liquid and milk. Add un-drained tomatoes, salmon, parsley, and dash pepper. Cover and simmer 10 minutes. Serves 4.

Changes and Shortcuts: This cookbook uses reconstituted nonfat dry milk instead of regular milk since it’s all about budget cooking. Since we are trying to cut down on animal products, I used rice milk. I also didn’t have any fresh parsley on hand, so used dried. I’m not crazy about the taste of canned cheddar cheese soup so I added some shredded cheddar at the end which gave it a little more of a “home made” soup taste.

Results: Not bad. I was pretty turned off by the canned salmon so I think that influenced my feelings toward the soup. It tasted pretty good, but I think I will look for a different recipe.

Keeper? Probably not.