Manitou Stew With Dumplings

Half chowder, half fish pie, this one-pot dinner is everything I want contemporary Michigan cuisine to be—rooted in our region’s agricultural and culinary traditions but not stodgy or heavy the way Midwestern food is presented and perceived to be. The Manitou Islands are in Lake Michigan and part of the lore around Sleeping Bear Dunes in Glen Arbor, Michigan. This part of the state has the deepest tradition of smoked fish and mysticism around the lakes, so it only made sense to me to name it after them (plus it rhymes)!

Smoked fish is emblematic of the northern Midwest both because many of the people who immigrated and stayed here were from fish-loving regions (Scandinavia, The Netherlands, and parts of the Mediterranean Basin), but also because our state’s defining (and unifying) feature, the Great Lakes, are loaded with all sorts of fish that were traditionally preserved through hot smoking.

Note: The smoked fish takes the place of bacon, the cream is gone, and the amount of vegetables is doubled, differing from a more traditional chowder because that’s the way I like to eat. It is also a looser stew because the dumpling topping absorbs some of the broth. If you find that you miss the cream, go ahead and add a swirl before topping with the dumplings. Please also feel encouraged to mix and match the type of vegetables included to suit what is already in your kitchen or your preferences; there’s no need to go out hunting for rutabaga unnecessarily.