Fish soup

posted by Hugin <hugin@be.online.no>

• A couple of onions, diced.
• Olive oil
• A few sticks of cellery, diced
• A large red pepper, diced
• Can of tomatoes
• Half a pint of stock? (Cubes if the seafood is processed)
• Dry sherry or white wine
• Garlic
• Chilli (or tabasco at the table) Be gentle on the chilli, as it tends to take too much taste from the fish.
• A small pound (3-500 gs) of cubed fish (I prefer at least 1/2 to 3/4 of the fish to be white fish)
• A pound of prawns with shells (or about 150-200 gs, without)
• A pound of mussels (live) or a can.
• Squids (fresh or canned) - optional
• Herbs (fresh or dried) like basil, thyme, oregano, tarragon (careful!), lots of parsley. Fresh coriander would probably do as well.
• Pepper and salt if needed.

Fry the onions in olive oil untill golden and soft. Add celery and peppers, and cook until soft. Add the tomatoes and half the stock (see below), then a little sherry. After that add a lot of garlic and some of the herbs and spices. Cook until it gets a little thicker and smoother. Then add the rest of the stock, the cubed fish (and squid rings and tentacles if fresh) and sherry and herbs to taste. If the mussels are live, add them as well, but make sure the soup is bubbling hot when you do it (so that they get killed instantly, poor things). Add the prawns (and canned mussels and squid) just before serving. Do not cook or they will get rubbery.

Stock: Bring the prawnshells (heads and all) to boil in just enough water to cover. Boil for 30 minutes. Add the skin, head(s) and bones of the fish. Press it into the shells, and add just enough water to cover. Simmer for 20 minutes, but not longer! Strain. Delicious stuff.

Serve with white bread.