My own eccentric take on the Spanish ‘sopa de pescados’. I find that the best time to buy fish is at the end of the day at a good fishmongers, when the prices go down, so you can often pick up a few scraps for pennies if you’re prepared to use them immediately.
The secret is a good, strong fish stock, which, for the sake of authenticity, does not come from a cube. It takes real time to make, and a complete change of attitude to recycling your waste food. This recipe is not for the squeamish: If you’re afraid of fish guts, do not read on!
- 1 litre fish stock (see recipe, below)
- 1 kg mixed prepared fish and seafood to finish the soup with. Monkfish and prawns are nice, but use whatever comes to hand.
- 4 tomatoes
- Tomato purée
- A fresh red chilli, chopped small
- One large onion
- Two cloves garlic
- Bay leaves
- A liberal helping of mixed herbs
- A dash of brandy. Pastis also works nicely.
- Some two-or-three-day-old bread
To make the fish stock:
I saved and froze all my fish waste over a two or three week period. Of course, this will be different every time, but on this occasion I took a load of prawn shells, along with the shell from a dressed crab, leftover skin from some smoked mackerel, some sardines I managed to blag from the owner of the fish stall as she was shutting the stall up (she was only going to throw them away, anyway) and some dried shrimp. For extra fishiness, add some Thai fish sauce, which basically is a distillation of fermented anchovies.
Boil all the fishy bits up in a covered saucepan for an hour or so with a few bits of carrot, tomato and celery, and open all the windows in the house because cooking your own fish stock really stinks. Honestly, it honks. No kidding.
After an hour or so, strain the stock; twice to remove any nasty bits, and put to one side.
To make the soup itself:
Chop the onions and tomatoes finely. Fry the onions in a little olive oil in a saucepan, followed by the garlic, tomatoes and tomato puree, the herbs, chilli and finally the fish stock. Simmer for half an hour or so. Strain once more, before adding the mixed prepared fish and a good slug of brandy or pastis. Taste the soup, add seasoning as necessary and taste again.
Cut the bread into large croutons. Any left-over bread can be crushed into breadcrumbs and added to the soup. For authenticity, serve the bread with aioli (garlic mayonnaise).
Finally, once the fish is cooked – but not overcooked – hook it out of the soup and into a bowl, then using a ladle, add enough soup to fill the bowl. Sprinkle with fresh parsley and crumbled boiled egg.