Salmon Chowder in the Ninja Cooking System

Last week I took a little detour from my usual grocery store haunts & made a pit stop to a little discount place.  While there I stumbled upon an old staple of ours.  Little did I realize that later in the week I would be watching my kids drag each other across the living room trying to get the last bag.  

This discount place has mini shopping carts that haven't been cleaned in a decade or more and the aisles have room for one in a half carts and one in a half customers, at best. But,  they tend to have super cheap prices on expired products, so how could I go wrong? HA!

As in all conflicts a resolution usually follows. I watched  them counting out pieces in order to make a fair and equitable distribution, with a cock a roach (on wheels) as their witness. Seeing the mild violence, negotiation and ultimate child led resolution of a white cheddar smart puff lunch size bag would warm any mothers heart. These are the everyday joys of family life, my friends. I love my kids so very much and it's in these random moments that I forget my worries and let my heart happy.

Salmon Chowder in the Ninja Cooking System

• 1-1/2 pounds of wild salmon
• one leek, sliced
• 2 cups corn
• 2 celery ribs, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• half a lemon, juiced
• 10 cups water, divided
• 2 bouillon cubes
• 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
• a few dashes of red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoons dill
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 pound of red potatoes, cubed
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup flour

Place 4 cups of water in the Ninja, add the steamer basket and salmon. Cover with the lid and cook on stove top high for 20 minutes (If you have a thick filet of 2" of more) If you have a thin filet steam for about 15 minutes. Remove.  If your filet is thick in the middle like mine it will be a bit raw. Don't worry, it will cook more later.  Remove steamer basket but leave the water that was used to steam the salmon in the Ninja. 

Add the remaining 6 cups of water,  leek, celery, garlic, bouillon cubes, dill, paprika, red pepper flakes, potatoes, hot sauce, salt, pepper & lemon juice to the steamer juice in the Ninja. Cook on Stove top medium with the lid on for 15 minutes.  

In a saucepan on the stove, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour, gradually. Turn the heat off. Stir until a paste is formed. Add paste to the veggie mixture in the Ninja. Stir until mixed.

Remove the skin from the wild salmon and flake it using forks. Remove and discard any bones. Give any salmon scraps to your cat :-)

Place the salmon and heavy cream in the Ninja and reduce heat to Slow Cooker low.  Turn the timer to 30 minutes. Once 30 minutes has arrived your Ninja will automatically set to warm.  Allow to warm for up to 3 hours and your chowder will thicken beautifully. I took the photo above right after I added the salmon and heavy cream before the chowder had a chance to thicken because we were racing off to drop off my sons friend, bring my son to basketball practice and catch my daughters basketball game! Busy times :-)

Enjoy....my whole family loved this Salmon Chowder & I hope yours will too!

Serves: 10

Salmon Hash

Good Morning! It's been a week of house guests, dad's birthday, football, soccer, and even a WNBA game.   We won tickets through the National Guard for Hero Appreciation Night & although we consider ourselves to be "the country type", I've gotta say that walking through Seattle Center on a balmy night with live music in the background, Chihuly Garden and Glass Art in our midst and a general feeling of excitement and energy felt great!

Our Seattle experiences seem to be a little off beat and slightly different from our experiences at home. Our kids are still talking about seeing a man in downtown Seattle a few years ago incoherently talking to a newspaper stand and simultaneously kicking it. Last night's experience was unique as well. As we sat at the bar of a fast food place a man joined us and dined on his array of free sauces. My husband noticed and gave him some of our dinner. No judgement or expectation, just giving and sharing a quiet meal together. Kind words were exchanged as we departed and it left us all feeling like we want to do more.

The "Storm" game was fantastic and felt amplified by our Thunderstix (a 2 pack of yellow and green inflatable noise makers that are included with each admission). The Storm lost by 2 points to Connecticut Sun's for various reasons, like our sons football game on Saturday, the erroneous calls by the referees didn't help.  All and all it was a fantastically tiring week that resulted in too many leftovers.  My solution to the dilemma was to create a breakfast hash.

The salmon hash was especially loved by our 9 month old niece who was visiting us this weekend. She enjoyed the potato's and broccoli a lot!

How To:

• 2 cups diced russet potato's
• 1/2 cup cooked broccoli
• a small filet of cooked salmon, flaked
• 1/2 cup sliced red onion
• 6 eggs
• salt and pepper to taste
• a few tablespoons of olive oil

Pan fry the potato's in olive oil for about 15 minutes. Turning frequently to brown.  

In an egg pan fry red onions for 5 minutes. Add egg and scramble until cooked.

Add the egg/onion, broccoli, salmon, salt and pepper to the potato's. Heat for about 5 minutes then serve with ketchup, salsa and hot sauce.

What do you do with your leftover's?

BBQ Salmon Sauce for Ivory King Salmon

Wild caught salmon is a staple around here. We enjoy salmon about twice a month thanks to the unending supply from my folks.  If you haven't tried this sauce I encourage you to give it a go. I know the ingredient list looks wacky but something amazing happens when all the flavors combine! 

• 1 cup butter
• 8 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup mustard
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 1 lemon juiced
• 2 dashes of worchestershire sauce

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan over low/medium heat.  Stir continuously and serve when hot (about 10 minutes).

Sauce serves 2 pounds of salmon.

Yup, this is a salmon filet.  It's an ivory king salmon & quite frankly I don't know why some kings have white flesh.  I found this informative article from the Seattle Times. It offers various theories  why a mere 1 out of 100 king salmon are ivory.  Included in the link is Oceanair's Ivory King Salmon with Chantrelle Recipe.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2004/1024/taste.html