I bought you a fish, but then I eated it.

One of the things I love about living in the Pacific Northwest is that occasionally, one of the major grocery chains will have whole fresh wild Pacific salmon for $5.99/lb. They'll even fillet it for you in the store.

WE EAT LIKE KINGS TONIGHT, CHILDREN!

What do I do with an entire 7-lb salmon? That's a lot of fish. If I roast the whole thing we'll be eating nothing but salmon for a week. So, I have them fillet it (and make sure to ask for the trimmings!) and then I go home and cut the fillets into approximately one-pound sections, and freeze all but one pound. Now I'm all set for about a month of salmon if we eat it once a week.

Put the trimmings in about 3 quarts of water in a deep pot along with:
one onion, quartered
one celery stalk, chopped
and one carrot, chopped

Simmer for 4-5 hours, strain, and discard the carcass and vegetables, reserving the broth.

Add to the broth:

Two cloves of garlic, minced
Two medium red potatoes, cubed
Two chopped carrots
4-6 chopped Roma tomatoes (or a can of diced tomatoes)
One bunch of kale, de-ribbed and chopped finely
A pinch of sage
A pinch of thyme
A pinch (add more if you like it spicy) of red chili flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

Simmer, covered, over medium heat for about 40 minutes.

In the meantime, season about a pound of salmon with salt, pepper, lemon juice if desired, and a pinch of dill. Bake skin-side up at 350° for about 20 minutes. Remove skin and use forks to pull the meat into bite-sized pieces, removing any bones. Add the fish to the soup right before serving.

Black bean soup with pork stock

So, if you were still wondering why you saved the bones from the short ribs, this is what you're going to do with them. Well, at least, this is what I do with them; you can do whatever you want!

Put the bones in a 3-quart saucepan with:

one whole onion, cut in quarters
one stalk of celery, coarsely chopped
one carrot, coarsely chopped
one teaspoon of salt
1 tsp Herbs de Provence

Add enough water to cover it all. Put a lid on and simmer for at least 4-6 hours to extract all the flavorful goodness. Since I know good and well you're not home all day, I recommend either getting a crockpot for this, or saving it for your day off. You can freeze the resulting stock, if desired.

Strain the stock (aka broth) and discard the bones and vegetables. Put stock back in the pan and add:

one clove of garlic, minced
one pound of black beans, soaked and rinsed
black pepper as desired

Top off with water to cover the beans by one inch, if necessary. Simmer on low heat for about an hour or until the beans are tender. Add salt to taste. Top with grated cheddar cheese and/or sour cream, and serve with fresh tomatoes.