Fish soup on a budget

Posted on October 11, 2015 by Full Of Daisies

3 Comments

Suddenly last year, I discovered fish soup.

How easy it is to make.

How, with some foresight when shopping, you can have all the ingredients at home.

How fast it is.

How cheap it is.

Here is the recipe.

I used frozen cod because it’s what I had (and cheaper!). That goes for the celery, too – mine was frozen but fresh would obviously be better!

Using a non-stick wok, start simmering the celery and garlic in half a spoonful of olive oil. After about 4 mins, add the fish and, if fresh, sear it on both sides; if frozen, wait for it to thaw and release some juices.

If you’re using a homemade bouillon cube (or as in my case here, a powdered bouillon cube), now is the time to add it. If you’re using fish stock, was a sec!

Now, add a few drops (half a teaspoon) of fish sauce. It will smell really strongly at first, but the change in flavour is amazing!

Dice the tomatoes and drop them in as soon as the wine has reduced.

Now add some water (if you put the bouillon cube before) or some fish stock and turn the heat down.

When the stock has reduced by half, it’s parsley time!

What happens now is entirely up to you. You can either leave the soup as is and eat it, or you can add the following ingredients:

Personally, I think the corn makes a lot of difference. Crunchy and sweet, it’s the perfect addition

Quick! Take the wok off the fire and let the ingredients absorb some heat without actually cooking. We discovered that these canned goods tend to shred really quickly when heated too violently

Et voilà! Your fast and cheap fish soup is ready to roll! If you want you can add some chilli flakes or chilli oil at any stage of the process. Boyfriend particularly appreciates this and I do not, so he always adds some chilli oil at the end.

Enjoy!