Smoked fish soup

Smoked freshwater fish soup.

Serves 6 as a soup starter or 3 as a fish main course (with 2nd helpings).

Hot Smoked eel
Hot Smoked trout

Hot Smoked Salmon

(in fact any fresh water smoked fish, all the better if you smoke your own)

The basic soup stock

 Bones and skin of the smoked fish and any other fish that you can lay your hands on (to make fish stock)

2 to 3 ltrs of Water (If you have home made frozen fish or vegetable stock so much the better, but try not to use a stock cube as these tend to be very salty)

Handful of freeze dried veg (In Germany getrocknete Suppengemuse)

1 onion

4 cloves

2 cloves of garlic

2 bay leaves

25mm piece of cinnamon

Bouquets garni

1 star anis

6 black pepper corns

Slug of Pernod (or Ricard or any other anis tipple that you have in your liquor cabinet)

1 tbl spn of olive oil

1 shallot finely diced

1 carrot grated

¼ piece of celeriac (julienne)

1 leek white only, cut into very thin rings

2 diced anchovy filets

125 ml cream (double if you can get it)

1 pkt of saffron threads

S&P to taste

1 pkt frozen peas

1 pkt of puff pastry  (or see my bread that I made to go with the soup this time)

This part can be made up front and stored for the next day in the fridge.

Skin, bone and trim the fish (keeping the fish fillets aside for later or in the fridge for the next day)

Put the skin, bones and trimmings with any other fish bits and pieces that you can lay your hands on (ask the fish monger for a cods head) into a large pot with the freeze dried veg, onion studded with the bay leaves and cloves, add the rest of the spices and herbs and the fish stock with the Pernod. Bring to the boil and reduce heat to a slow simmer, skim any (there will be loads) of scum, gung , flotsam and jetsam that rises to the surface. Boil for about 20 minutes (reduce by about ¼) and then strain through a fine funnel sieve. When cooled this can be set aside for later or stored in the fridge for the next day.

Putting together the soup

Heat the oil, add the shallots, carrot, celeriac, leek and anchovy, soften all and add the stock liquid and heat through. Take a little of the liquid and mix in the saffron threads return this to the soup. Add the cream and adjust seasoning. (you should need very little as the basic stock used smoked fish bones and the soup had anchovies added). Ladle this into bowls (I have those ones with lions head handles) add a few peas, some diced eel (I cut them diamond shaped, but that is just to be a bit cheffy does nowt for the taste) shredded trout and salmon. Put a puff pastry lid on it, cut out little pastry fish and stick them on the top to make it all nice and pretty give it an egg wash and put into the oven until all puffed up and piping hot!

   

Variations to this are:

 If you wish to have a more thick chowder style, you can dust the vegetables with a bit of flour and use half oil, half butter and make a roué. Then add the liquid a ladle at a time!

•  You can add  brown shrimps instead of peas
•  You can add diced tomato flesh instead of peas
•  You can use a combo of any or all of the above
•  You can use smoked sea fish
•  You can roll thin omelettes and slice into coils, adding these to the soup
•  You can serve it on a shallow plate, with crusty bread or puff pastry wedges
•  You can add cheese to the puff pastry (This is very tasty)
•  Add a chopped chilli and soy sauce to give it an eastern flavour
•  And, and, and !

Here are the two breads that I made to accompany the smoked fish soup one was olive and chilli, the other was smoked ham,sun dried tomato and thyme. The recipes are on the baking fred