It’s the season for creams, stews, casseroles and home-made soups to beat the chill. How’s your repertoire when it comes to that? The truth is that these dishes are wonderfully comforting and easy to prepare, especially after a long day. Coming home (with the clocks having changed, it’s already dark) and having a a hot soup ready is as good as it gets. And among their many advantages, all these dishes can be prepared in advance, needing only a final reheat at the last moment.
We could talk about any of them, as each has many virtues, but on this occasion we focus on fish soup. Generally, fish soups tend to be light and low in calories, which makes them ideal for dinner, perhaps accompanied by a French omelette. Their high protein content and healthy fatty acids are another reason they should feature in your weekly menu. The question, then, is: do you know how to make a good fish soup?
The trick to a succulent fish soup
The same question was asked by one of the listeners to Martín Berasategui’s cooking Q&A on the Hoy por Hoy programme, and the Basque chef passed it along. The query, precisely, was how to prepare a succulent fish soup, exquisite and with hardly any large bits that would win over even the children, who are not usually keen on trying this dish.
Do you want to know the chef’s answer? Take note because here it is. As you might expect, there are several keys, though they’re all very simple and easy to put into practice. The first is that the best start is a good traditional sofrito with a touch of tomato. If you read the article about how Martín Berasategui prepares his sofrito, you’ll recall that time is crucial; in fact, it took him about 45 minutes, so it will come in handy to have it frozen in advance to have it on hand whenever you want.
The second key would be to bind it with a crusty bread or a little rice: this will make it much softer and more appealing to the children, and if they like it, the adults will too. Next come the ingredients for a very tasty broth. That is the key to making it rich and irresistible.
For this, always choose high-quality produce from your trusted fishmonger. There are several options, as the chef explained, because you can make it with monkfish, conger eel or hake head, or a blend of all three if that suits you better.
And finally, you simply need to prepare it with care to achieve a very smooth texture and to be free of those lumps that children usually dislike. As we mentioned earlier, you can make it in advance because it’s delicious from day to day. You’ll see what a success it becomes. Give it a try as soon as you can and enjoy!
