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Title: Basque Fish Soup - {Sopa De Pescado A La Vasca}
Yield: 6 Servings

Ingredients

      3    dozen Mussels
      4 lb Small whole fish  - cleaned;
           - cut several pieces
           (any white fish can be used:
           - rockfi
           and small sea bass, for
           -example)
      4 md Garlic cloves; minced
      3 md Carrots; diced
      2    Leeks or 4 to 5 small
           -shallots; minced
      6 tb Olive oil
    1/4 c  Cognac
      3 sl White bread; center portion
           -only
      1    sprig Thyme
      1    Bay leaf
     10 c  Water
           Salt and pepper; to taste
      1 tb Butter; rounded tbsp

Instructions

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.

Recipe Source:
THE SPANISH COOKBOOK by Barbara Norman
Published by Bantam Books, Inc. (c) 1969

Formatted for MasterCook by Joe Comiskey, aka MR MAD -
jpmd44a@prodigy.com -or- MAD-SQUAD@prodigy.net

01-26-1995

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Contributor: Barbara Norman

Preparation Time: 0:00

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