salmon soup

salmon and shitake soup
for grey days on the west coast

ingredients:
one red onion
2 carrots
some stalks of celery
10 shitake mushrooms
1 lb of deboned salmon filet
2 cups cooked brown rice
boullion cubes, soy sauce or veggie stock for soup base
spices as desired

instructions:

• first of all, go for a long walk by the sea until you are cold and in need of warming. go by yourself and think about someone you haven’t seen for awhile.
• come home, and light a fire in the woodstove or fireplace, hang your wool sweater up to dry by the fire and then get your ingredients together for cooking
• start by sauteing the onion in olive oil until it is soft and translucent and your kitchen smells like cooking is taking place. if you want, add some cloves of crushed garlic and stir those in too
• add the sliced shitake mushrooms and stir them around a bit in the oil to release their flavour – put a bit of soy sauce over them and make them sing in the fashion of a chinese cook
• add about 7 cups of water and bouillon cubes and or 7 cups of veggie stock – if you have planned your life around eating well, you should have some homemade stock in the freezer
• throw in the sliced carrot and celery – make sure they are organic and you can leave the skins on the carrots
• put on a low, rolling boil until the veggies are getting towards done
• throw in the diced salmon filet, skin and all (make sure the bones are out first) – chinook or sockeye are the best because they have the strongest fish taste, make sure the pieces aren’t too small so you miss them when eating the soup
• when the salmon is cooked, add the brown rice and heat through – simmer the pot on a low heat for awhile so the flavours can marry
• soy sauce to taste

you can also add garlic, dill, oregano, bay leaf, celery seed, ginger, white wine, and/or barley (instead of rice) – i have made this soup all manner of ways. it is best if the salmon is of a piece given to you by a friend so you can think about that person as you are warming yourself up with the finished soup – this is nourishing for the body and the heart. on the west coast there are many fishermen (and women) – these are good people to befriend, and i am lucky to have a couple in the circle of my aquaintances (even luckier that one of these people regularly bestows me with gifts of salmon).