smoked salmon corn and sweet potato chowder - TK

Ingredients

• 2 slices of bacon, diced. (Extra if you want to serve bacon on top of the soup) (always look for uncured bacon)
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 cup fresh or frozen corn
• 2 medium or 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch cubes
• 3 bulbs garlic, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 14 ounce can full fat coconut milk
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 2 tablespoons butter or plant based butter for dairy free option
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes if you want some heat (I love Aleppo chili flakes)
• 8 ounce pouch cold smoked salmon or 1 can salmon, drained + 1 small tin smoked trout in oil, torn into bite sized bits
• Handful chopped cilantro for garnish