This salmon head soup is delicious and full of flavor! Get this on your menu planning radar asap!
Commercial salmon fishing season officially opened this month in California. Which means that we can buy salmon, right from the fisherman in the harbor! Not only is this fish incredibly fresh, it is also significantly cheaper than buying it at the market.
I popped over to the Santa Cruz harbor one morning recently and bought an entire salmon that had merely been caught hours ago. It was such a gorgeous fish! And it was so fresh that we were eating it raw, as we were filleting it. The flesh was a much deeper color too than anything I have ever bought at the store. The photo below was taken with my iphone with no filter, promise!
I couldn’t bare wasting the beautiful head and tail, and other left over parts. And since we aren’t expert filleters, there was quite a bit of meat left over too. I made soup out of all the remaining parts. It was really easy and so delicious. Plus, fish stock, made from the carcasses and heads of fish, is thought to be especially rich in minerals.
This soup can also be made with just heads and tails. You can often find the heads and tails at the farmer’s market for super cheap. If you are only using heads and tails for this soup. I am going to guestimate that you can use two of each and still get plenty of meat for the soup.
I made the broth in the slow cooker, which made it easy breezy! If you are easily grossed out by animal parts, you might want to close your eyes now ;).
Okay, now you can open them 🙂
Salmon Head Soup
[Printable Version]
Ingredients
1 salmon head, 1 salmon tail and any remaining pieces – if just using only head and tail, use 2 of each
1 small onion, sliced
add 1 bulb green garlic, minced
1 cup of wakame (I used this kind)
1 3 inch pieces of ginger, slivered, plus 1 tablespoon of ginger peeled and minced
1/4 cup mirin (you can substitute coconut vinegar)
1/4 cup tamari or coconut aminos (I used this)
3 zucchinis, spiraled into noodles
chives and chilies for garnish
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Salmon Head Soup
Ingredients
- 1 salmon head, 1 salmon tail and any remaining pieces – if just using only head and tail, use 2 of each
- 1 small onion, sliced
- 1 bulb green garlic, minced
- 1 cup of wakame
- 1 3 inch pieces of ginger, slivered, plus 1 tablespoon of ginger peeled and minced
- 1/4 cup mirin (you can substitute coconut vinegar)
- 1/4 cup tamari or coconut aminos
- 3 zucchinis, spiraled into noodles
- chives and chilies for garnish
Instructions
- Place salmon heads, tails and any other part of the carcass in a slow cooker with slivered ginger. Cover with water. You don’t have to peel the ginger for this part. Cook on high for 1.5-2 hours.
- Strain broth, pick apart meat and put it meat and broth into a stock pot.
- Add green garlic, onions, minced ginger, wakame, mirin and tamari to the stock pot.
- Gently heat the soup, but do not boil it. Cook for about 20 minutes.
- While the soup is heating, spiral the zucchinis.
- Add the spiraled zucchinis to the soup and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until zucchinis are tender.
- Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with chives and chilies!
