Love Thai food? Then you’ll definitely enjoy this mouth-watering recipe for Thai Coconut Salmon Head Soup by Chef Andrew Zimmern. Inspired by Chef Zimmern’s travels to Thailand, this recipe incorporates traditional Thai ingredients and highlights the rich flavors of the head and collars – pieces of the fish that may not be top-of-mind to use (but should be, as they are just as useful and delicious!).

(Serves 6)

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 salmon head and collars (you can also use trim and belly pieces)

  • 3 cups chicken broth

  • 2 tablespoons chile-tamarind paste (nam phrik pao)

  • 2 ½ tablespoons golden brown sugar

  • 2 Kaffir lime leaves

  • 1 large stalk lemongrass, trimmed and sliced into 1-inch pieces

  • One 2-inch piece of galangal, sliced lengthwise

  • One 2-inch piece of ginger, sliced lengthwise

  • Two 14-ounce cans unsweetened coconut milk

  • 2 Thai chiles, split lengthwise, plus more for garnish

  • ¾ pound mixed mushrooms, such as oyster mushrooms, enoki mushrooms or straw mushrooms

  • 2 ½ tablespoons fish sauce

  • ¼ cup fresh lime juice

  • Cilantro sprigs for garnish

Andrew Zimmern Salmon Recipe

DIRECTIONS

  1. Split and rinse the salmon head. Remove and reserve the collars and any trim pieces you want to use.

  2. In a large stock pot, bring the chicken broth to a simmer. Add the chile-tamarind paste, brown sugar, lime leaves, lemongrass pieces, galangal and ginger. Stir to incorporate the paste and dissolve the sugar. Next, add the salmon collars, trim pieces and coconut milk. Add the split chiles and mushrooms. Bring to a simmer, then cook for 5 minutes.

  3. Stir in the fish sauce and fresh lime juice. Cook for another minute, and then ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, garnishing with cilantro and sliced chiles. Enjoy!

Verlasso Salmon Thai fish head soup

Let us know how yours turns out – share it with us on social media and tag @Verlasso!

And in case you haven’t heard the news, Chef Zimmern will also be diving into the world of sustainable seafood farming with us. Be sure to follow his journey with #FollowThatSalmon.