Granny's Basque Fish Soup
3 doz Mussels
4 lb Small whole fish - cleaned cut several pieces
(any white fish can be used: rockfish and small sea bass, for
example)
4 med Garlic cloves minced
3 med Carrots diced
2 x Leeks or 4 to 5 small shallots minced
6 tbl Olive oil
1/4 cup Cognac
3 slc White bread center portion only
1 sprg Thyme
1 x Bay leaf
10 cup Water
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tbs Butter rounded tbsp
Method :
Fry garlic, carrots, onion, and leeks or shallots in olive oil very slowly for
15 minutes. Add a sprig of thyme and a bay leaf. Put in fish and fry gently for
3 minutes. Heat cognac, pour it over fish and vegetables, light it, and let
flames die. Pour in 10 cups water, let it come to a boil over fairly high flame
and boil slowly for 15 minutes. While it boils, open the mussels in a saucepan
over moderate heat with a little water. Strain juice through a kitchen towel and
add it to the fish and vegetables.
Remove mussels from shell and set aside. Cut or tear the white part of three
slices of bread into small bits. Strain the soup into another saucepan, add the
bits of bread, and cook it in the soup 10 minutes more. Separate all the fish
meat from the bones. Strain the soup a second time, forcing undissolved bits of
bread through strainer. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer fish meat and
shelled mussels in the soup for 5 minutes before serving; add butter just before
removing from fire, stir to mix, and serve very hot.
Comments: The quality of fish soup depends on the quality of the fish. The above
way of preparing it is Basque, but the kind of fish used can be varied according
to what is locally available. You might use a head of hake, some crabs, and a
few crayfish. Or you might use, as suggested above, mussels, rockfish, and sea
bass. All fish and shellfish must be cleaned, but the heads, bones, and shelfish
carcasses (all of which are strained out afterward) are cooked in the soup to
give it flavor.
1053
Robert
Guiscard,
Norman
invader, establishes kingdom in
Italy
, conquers
Sicily
(1072).