Salmon chowder

Below is the recipe for the salmon chowder we had tonight. First, here's what we're eating this week, for future reference and ideas of what to cook:
- Veal scallopini with prosciutto and sage, served with risotto, from Italian Regional Cooking by Rosemary Wadey
- Pasticcio (baked casserole of ground lamb with pasta) from the Anchorage blogger scribbit
- Salmon chowder, modified from a recipe in the Fiddlehead cookbook (unfortunately Martin just told me the restaurant, in Juneau, is no longer there)
- Hearty lentil soup from Fiddlehead cookbook
- Beef with juniper berries from Every Night Italian
- Chicken cooked under a brick (or dutch oven in our case), from the Mark Bittman's blog on NYTimes

Salmon chowder
based on the Smoked Halibut Chowder in the Fiddlehead Cookbook.

For the salmon, fry
a handful of bacon, chopped
in a pan over medium-high heat. When the bacon fat is released, add
a filet of salmon (1.5 lbs or so in our case)
skinside down first, then flip it and remove the skin. Cook until just done, or turn off slightly before since it can get cooked up a bit in the chowder. Break into pieces of desired size. In the meanwhile, do the chowder base, then add the salmon to it once it is done.

For the chowder base, fry
a handful of bacon, chopped,
4 Tbs butter
in a pan over medium-high heat. Once the bacon is cooked to desired crispness, add
1 carrot, finely chopped (1 cup)
1 small onion, finely chopped (1 cup)
2 small ribs celery, finely chopped (1/2 cup)
Stir and cook until the vegetables are soft and aromatic, then add
6 Tbs flour
and cook briefly, not browning. Add
6 c fish stock
2 c milk
2 bay leaves
2 tsp fresh garlic, minced
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/8 tsp white pepper
pinch of nutmeg
And cook until vegetables are just about done, 15 minutes. Add salmon with its bacon, cook until both the veggies and the salmon are done.