Russian salmon ukha

The weather is starting to turn cold, turning on cravings for some hot comfort food. With a pound of king salmon collars in the freezer from Whole Foods, I set out to make ukha, a fish soup.

In this particular instance, I used salmon because it was already available in the fridge. Some recipes also use whitefish such as cod. The fish stock is typically flavored with onions, carrots, celery, parsley, dill, bay leaves, and black pepper, while the soup also contains carrots and potatoes, finished with some sort of acid, whether it be acetic or citric.

This particular recipe also incorporated white wine, which I don’t think is typical of the dish.

Ingredients
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion or 1 large leek
4 carrots, about 1 pound
2 stalks celery
1 small bunch parsley, about 1 cup chopped
1 small bunch dill, about 1/4 cup fresh sprigs
8 black peppercorns
1/2 tsp chili powder
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup white wine
1 lb salmon collar and/or head
3 medium potatoes, about 1 pound
1 14-oz can of salmon
1/2 lemon, juiced
salt to taste
green onions to garnish

Directions

(1) Chop onion or leek, cube the carrots, dice the celery, chop the parsley, and take off the sprigs from the dill plant
(2) Heat olive oil on medium-high heat. Add onions and saute until translucent. Add one carrot’s worth of chopped carrot, celery, parsley, dill, black pepper, and chili powder. Cook until vegetables are slightly tender, about 5-10 minutes.
(3) Add wine and saute a bit longer. Add salmon collar or head, 3 cups of water, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
(4) Meanwhile, peel and cube potato into 1/2-inch to 1-inch pieces. Add to soup, along with the rest of the carrots, and boil another 20 minutes until tender.
(5) Add the contents of the canned salmon into the soup. Break up into chunks and add the lemon juice. Add additional salt to taste. Remove bones as desired.
(6) Turn off heat and serve warm.

Enjoy!

Dai Dai