 By Susan E. Woodward
This soup is a big production. It is not merely dinner;
it is dinner for a ceremonial occasion, a ritual feast.
It is worth it. The basic idea here is that you will
make a broth first by boiling the shrimp shells and whatever
fish carcasses you can obtain, in water, with a few seasonings.
Then you prepare the main soup with tomatoes, onions,
and garlic, and add the fish broth to it. In this vegetable/fish
broth soup, you cook a common inexpensive fish, like
cod, and then puree the tomato-onion-fish mixture. The
puree then cooks another 45 minutes to develop its flavor.
While it is simmering, you make a garlicky mayonnaise.
The shrimp, scallops, clams, mussels, and more delicate
fishes are added to the soup and cooked at the very last
so that they are just barely done when the soup is served.
When the soup is served, the mayonnaise is spread on
little toasts of French bread, which are then dipped
in shredded Gruyere cheese to be placed in the soup bowls,
and the soup is ladled over it. Leftovers are not as
good as the fresh soup, and fish is expensive, so plan
carefully for zero leftovers. In the finished soup, you
will be able to taste tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, fish
and shellfish, chili, orange, herbs, fennel, and saffron.
All are essential. This is a most delicious soup. It
is one of the best things I know how to cook.
The broth:
Start with the shells from the shrimp and whatever bones,
heads, fins and skin you can come by. A yellowtail collar
is a fine contribution, too, although the fillet of this
fish is not the best suited to this soup. Wash everything
in copious running water, then cover with two quarts
of water and add:
* 1-teaspoon of fennel seed
* 3 bay leaves
* Several grinds of black pepper
* Ten sprigs of parsley, not chopped
* 1-teaspoon salt
And boil it all together gently for 30 minutes. Strain
this broth and discard everything but the broth.
Then prepare the vegetable body of the soup:
* 2 or 3 large onions, chopped in bite-sized pieces
* 10 cloves of garlic, crushed
* 2/3 cup of olive oil
* 1-teaspoon fennel seed, or a small bulb of fennel,
chopped
* ½ cup parsley, chopped fine
* 1-teaspoon salt
Fry all of this together over medium heat in a large
pot until the onions are well wilted and the garlic is
cooked a bit. Then add:
* 1 large can crushed tomatoes
* 2 teaspoons thyme
* 3 strips of peel from an orange, about ½" x
3", orange part only, no white flesh
* 3 bay leaves
* 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
* 1-teaspoon saffron
* 2 teaspoons harissa sauce
And simmer about 20 minutes. Then add the fish broth
prepared earlier, with:
* One pound of inexpensive fish fillets—cod is
fine.
And cook until the fish is done. Then remove the bay
leaves and orange peel (but save them), puree the soup
in batches (blender gives the best result) and return
the soup and the bay leaves and orange peel to the pot
to simmer another 30 to 45 minutes. The pureed soup will
be a light orange color, but it will develop into a fine
Colorado red as it simmers, and the flavor will develop
also. After 30 minutes or so, taste the soup and correct
the seasoning for salt, pepper, and harissa. To this
point you can prepare the soup ahead. (Freeze it if you
are not going to use it within 24 hours.)
Note on harissa: You can buy harissa in a small can or
in a tube at Middle Eastern markets. The tube is better
because it keeps a long time, although if you put the
harissa from the can in a little jar and put olive oil
over it each time you use some, it will keep well also.
If you cannot find harissa, substitute a couple of fresh
chilies, seeded (either Serrano or jalapeno is good)
and add 1/2 teaspoon each ground cumin and coriander.
Somewhere less than three hours from serving time, make
a mayonnaise with:
* One egg yolk
* About ¾ cup of olive oil.
Start by beating the yolk with a whisk until it is pale
yellow, then add the oil, first in drops, then in half
teaspoons, whisking thoroughly each time to assure the
mayonnaise properly emulsifies.
When you have a good quantity, add:
* 2 or 3 cloves of crushed garlic,
* A bit of harissa, and Salt to taste.
If you had a lot of presence of mind, you could have
dropped
* A tiny potato (1 ½", red or white)
Into the soup and it would be cooked in about ten minutes,
and you could now fish it out and peel it and mash it.
Or you could cook the little potato briefly in the microwave.
Either way, peel it and mash it thoroughly, then mix
a bit of the mayonnaise with it, then mix the potato
into the mayonnaise. If you are not going to serve within
a half an hour, cover and chill the spicy potatoey garlicky
mayonnaise.
Slice a small baguette into fairly thin slices and toast
them lightly. You will need 4 to 6 pieces for each guest,
assuming each guest will have seconds and that two to
three will fit in your soup plates. The toasts can be
prepared ahead, too, as the bread should be fairly thoroughly
dry when they are finished toasting. Store them in a
zip lock bag if you are not going to use them the same
day.
When you are nearly ready to serve, heat the soup to
a simmer, and put the shellfish and other fishes into
the soup. Remember you have a pound of fish in the soup
already, and aim for about 2 to 3 persons per pound of
filleted or cleaned fish or shellfish. For 8 people I
usually buy
* 1 pound shrimp
* 1-pound scallops
* 1-pound sea bass
* 2 dozen clams or mussels, or ½ pound of another
fish
But other varieties are fine, too.
Good candidates for this soup: sea bass, halibut, red
snapper, cod, ling cod, shrimps, scallops, clams, lobsters,
mussels, and even sole. Basically, most shell fish and
all white-fleshed sea fishes.
Bad candidates: swordfish, mackerel, tuna, yellowtail,
bluefish, salmon, oysters, other oily fishes, squid and
octopus, and all fresh water fishes.
Depending on the volume, the shellfish and fillets will
cook in as little as 5 minutes. If there are many bivalves,
it will take longer because their shells will cool the
soup and it will have to come back to a simmer before
the fish will cook.
While the soup is cooking, grate about:
* ¼ pound of Gruyere cheese,
Spread the little toasts with mayonnaise and dip each
one in grated cheese. Put two or three in each bowl and
ladle the hot soup over it. There is great danger here
that the guests will discover how delicious the little
toasts with spicy potatoey garlicky mayonnaise and cheese
are and eat them up before you serve, so proceed with
caution….
BON APPÉTIT
Article © 2002-2006, Susan
E. Woodward. All rights reserved.
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