Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Soup

twissis's Note:

This lightly-creamed soup is truly special. It works as comfort food for a casual soup & salad dinner or a starter course for an elegant dinner party. On our recent trip to the US, my SIL gave me the recipe. She said her mother had copied it from a cookbook & did not recall the source. I wish I knew who to acknowledge & thank for this classy taste sensation. I hope you try this & enjoy it as we did. (PLS READ NOTES shown as steps 7, 8 & 9 of prep)... *Edited To Add* This recipe was revised to include the addition of garlic & Old Bay Seasoning.

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 8

Yield: 8.0 8-10 oz ...

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 ½ cups onions (yellow or white variety, finely chopped)
• 2 garlic cloves (crushed & finely minced)
• ¾ cup fresh dill (chopped)
• 1 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning (more as desired)
• 2 medium tomatoes (ripe, seeded & chopped)
• 8 ounces smoked salmon (finely chopped)
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 8 cups water
• 2 cups fresh spinach (10 oz pkg, stems removed & leaves finely chopped)
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
• 1⁄3; cup vodka
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• fresh ground black pepper (to taste)
• snipped fresh chives (optional garnish)

Directions:

1. Melt butter in med-size stock pot over med heat. Add onion + garlic & saute till onions are soft, 10-15 minutes.
2. Stir in dill, Old Bay Seasoning, tomatoes & smoked salmon. Cook 3 minutes. Then add flour & cook 1 min more.
3. Gradually stir in water & heat to a soft boil. Reduce heat & simmer uncovered over med-low heat for 20 minutes.
4. Stir in spinach & simmer 5 more minutes.
5. Stir in cream cheese (1 oz at a time) over low heat, allowing ea bit to melt into the soup.
6. When all the cream cheese has been added & the soup is smooth, stir in the vodka & lemon juice. Taste for seasonings & serve immediately.
7. NOTES: I entered this recipe as given to me & made a half recipe w/2 chgs in my trial version.
8. I left out the vodka (none in the house!), subbed dry white wine & frankly doubt I will ever use the vodka. I pd homage to a DH pers pref & subbed diced broccoli florets for the spinach. I pd homage to 1 of my own by adding 4 oz baby shrimp.
9. Pers pref are often at the heart of any success a recipe enjoys. I found this soup in need of salt, but DH did not. He found the lemon juice a bit excessive, but I did not. Bottom line is tasting for your pers pref is advised.

Reviews

[Daisy D Petals]

Delicious! I changed the recipe slightly to add a bit more richness by making the broth from 3 cups of skim milk and 3 cups of water rather than the 6 cups of water the recipe asked for. Soup turned out remarkably light still, but with a good creamy texture. The Old Bay I had on hand had blackening seasonings in it, but still tasted very good. I also used 1/2 cup of dill rather than 3/4. Big hit with everyone in the house. Will definitely make again!

[Leggy Peggy]

Totally decadent and divine soup, and so quick and easy to make. I had to make Old Bay Seasoning (we can't buy this ingredient in Australia). I used 120 grams of fresh baby spinach (which equalled two loosely packed cups), and had only 200 grams (7 ounces) of salmon. I used one bunch of dill, which was about a half a cup loosely packed. The proportions were totally fine. I'll admit that I was too impatient to let the cheese melt ounce-by-ounce, so towards the end of cooking I buzzed it all up with my stick blender. Our luncheon guests loved it. Thanks for posting. As an aside, I couldn't find this recipe in my first Silver Palate cookbook, so it must appear in a later volume.

[Chef #1494776]

This recipe is from the Silver Palette cookbook. It is an excellent choice as a starter for an elegant evening. Definitely use the vodka.