Salmon Soup Recipe for Karelian Lohikeitto
This salmon soup recipe for Karelian lohikeitto makes a rich and creamy salmon soup packed with vegetables, which has a gentle warmth due to allspice and a freshness of flavour and fragrance thanks to dill, the beloved herb of Russian and Nordic cuisines. It was Karelskiy rybnyy sup in Russian, simply 'Karelian fish soup', when I was growing up. Despite my baboushka making it with salmon, it wasn’t identified as a salmon soup in the way Karelian people distinguish salmon soup (lohikeitto) from fish soup (kalakeitto). Can't source salmon or not a fan? Replace it with your favourite fish. Serve with sour cream and slices of sourdough or black rye bread for dunking.
Calories: 2073kcal
Equipment
- Soup Pot
- ladle
- soup bowls
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp butter unsalted
- 1 brown onion small, peeled, diced
- 1 leek thoroughly cleaned, finely sliced into rings, white and light green parts
- 4 potatoes medium sized, peeled, cut into medium sized cubes
- 2 carrots medium sized, peeled and sliced
- 800 ml water or fish stock
- 4 bay leaves
- ½ tsp allspice
- 200 ml cooking cream or thickened cream or heavy cream
- 460 g salmon fillets skinless, bones removed, cut into large chunks
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley finely chopped
- 4 tbsp fresh dill add half just before serving, and half for garnishing
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- To a soup pot over low, heat the olive oil and butter, add the onions and leaks, and sauté for 5 minutes or so until starting to soften and fragrant.
- Increase the heat to medium, add the carrots, stir to combine, and continue to sauté for a couple of minutes.
- To the same pot, add the potatoes, water or fish stock, bay leaves, and spices, increase the heat to medium-high, and cook for around 15-20 minutes or so, or until the potatoes are tender.
- Reduce the heat to low, add the cream and salmon pieces and cook until the fish is just done, around 3-5 minutes.
- Just before serving, stir through half the finely-chopped fresh parsley and dill, and season with sea salt and black pepper to taste.
- Use a ladle to scoop out the vegetables and lay them in the bowls first to create a base, top them with the salmon pieces, then ladle the creamy broth into the bowls.
- Shower each bowl with the remaining fresh herbs, spoon on a dollop of sour cream, and grind on a little more black pepper.
- Serve with dishes of fresh herbs and sour cream on the table, along with slices of sourdough or black rye bread for dunking.
Notes
Salmon - our recipe calls for 460 g salmon fillets because that’s the standard weight of a pack of 4 salmon fillets in an Australian supermarket, but essentially you want one salmon fillet of around 100-120 g or so per person.