I take this opportunity to apologize to all of my foodie friends for ignoring their lovely seafood recipes, as I said before, I don’t like to eat anything that swims floats or crawls in water. And yet here I am with a fish soup. The last time I served this was to a happy crowd back in 1970. Yes, I have deprived my darling all these years. I make no promises for the future, but since this one happens to be one of the most popular Hungarian soups, right after gulyás, I knew eventually I will have to make it for my cook book. So here it is, feast your eyes, or cook it up, I am told it is good. I tasted it for the salt and the salt was just fine.
Hungary is a landlocked country, and yet fish is an important part of Hungarian cuisine. There is the fishermen soup and the breaded, deep fried carp on Christmas Eve. There are regional variations of the fishermen soup and this soup is a synthesis of several. It may appear to be a large undertaking with two stages of cooking, but in fact this is a simple soup. Cook the stock for an hour, simmer the soup for 20 minutes and it is ready to serve. It is best to use a variety of fresh water fish with tails and bones for the stock and fleshy filet pieces for the soup. I did that, but only in part, I used all the parts of a fresh spring salmon. Keep in mind if you make the soup from salmon, use less salt than normally. With under salting, as I said, the saltiness was just fine.
You will need a variety of smaller fishes or a medium sized fresh salmon for this soup. The write up is for salmon.
FISHERMEN SOUP
Stock:
salmon tail, flippers, underbelly, bones, the head is optional
2 onions, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 parsnip, chopped
1/4 celeriac, chopped
2 garlic
2 sprigs of fresh parsley
1 tsp pepper corns
2 bay leaves
salt to taste
Soup:
2 Tbsp olive oil
fleshy filet of half [medium sized] salmon with the skin attached
6 cups of fish stock
1/3 cup white wine
1 minced garlic
1 large carrot, sliced
1 parsnip, sliced
1/4 celery root, sliced
1 sprig of fresh parsley
3 Tbsp paprika
• After the fish is gutted and if using the head, the eyes removed, cut off the tail section, the head and the underbelly. Wash them and place them in a medium Dutch pot.
• Next filet the fish. Add the bones to the pot.
• Slice one of the filets into 1 inch segments. Place on a plate and salt them lightly. Wrap the remaining filet and refrigerate or freeze for a different use.
• Peel, wash and chop the vegetables for the stock. Add these to the pot.
• Add the garlic, parsley and the peppercorns and sprinkle with salt.
• Add enough cold water to submerge the fish parts and the vegetables by about one to two inches of water.
• Bring to the boil, reduce heat and cover the pot.
• Cook the stock with a slow, but steady simmer for 1 hour.
• Meanwhile peel, wash and chop all the vegetables for the soup.
• Remove the pot from heat and strain the stock into a medium pot.
• Discard all the fish parts and the vegetables.
• Make the soup next.
• Place the olive oil in a clean medium Dutch pot.
• Add the fish filets.
• Place the vegetables on the top and sprinkle with the paprika.
• Pour six cups of fish stock on the top.
• Bring to the boil slowly; you don’t want rolling boil at this stage.
• Cover the pot and slowly simmer soup for twenty minutes.
• Do not stir soup; instead gently move pot side to side.
• Remove pot from heat and discard the parsley.
• Serve the soup piping hot with sour cream, lemon slices and thick slices of rustic bread.
• This is a complete meal.
