Smoked Salmon Bisque

Ingredients:

16oz Alaska Smokehouse Smoked Salmon, skin removed and flaked

1 yellow onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 carrots, peeled, ends removed, and chopped

2 stalks celery, cleaned, ends removed, and chopped

2 tablespoons fresh chives, diced (for garnish)

1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon canola oil

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/4 cup dry white wine

5 cups chicken stock

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Procedure:

In a large pot, add canola oil and butter and heat over medium heat until butter is melted.

Add onion, carrots, and celery and cook for 5-7 minutes, until slightly softened.

Add garlic, thyme, paprika, salt, pepper, bay leaves and tomato paste and cook for 1 minute.

Turn the heat up to high and stir in the wine to deglaze the pan, making sure to scrape up any of the tomato paste that had browned on the bottom.

Add in the chicken stock and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a simmer.

Reduce heat to low and cook for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are very soft.  Stir occasionally.

Remove from heat and fish out the bay leaves and throw them away.

Using a stick blender, blend the soup until smooth.

Stir in the lemon juice and heavy cream.  Whisk to combine.

Add in smoked salmon and return to heat on low, warming the soup through until hot.

Serve with diced chives and a crusty baguette.

Substitutions

If you don't have an immersion blender, you can simply leave the vegetables unblended.  The soup will be more like a tomato vegetable soup.

If you don't have heavy cream, milk can be substituted, though the texture will be thinner.