Photo: Singzy / Flickr

This flavourful fish soup is a hearty one – and what’s great about it is that it can serve as a meal in one. The ingredients, which are adaptable, call for an onion, carrots, leeks, ripe tomatoes, dry white wine, garlic, orange rind, several small potatoes, one and a half kilograms of skinned and filleted line fish and fish stock. The flavourings include curry powder and some optional saffron while the garnish includes French bread, parsley and Gruyere cheese.

Preparation for the meal-in-one fish soup

Peel and slice one onion and two carrots, slice two leeks, skin, de-seed and chop three ripe tomatoes, measure out a cup of dry white wine, peel three cloves of garlic, slice two strips of orange rind, peel six small potatoes, skin and fillet one and a half kilograms of line fish, and prepare three litres of fish stock.

Measure out three-quarters of a teaspoon of curry powder and a generous pinch of saffron. Cut nine slices of French bread, chop three tablespoons of parsley and grate 50 grams of Gruyere cheese.

Prepare the soup

Put three tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan, then add the onion and curry powder. Stir the ingredients until the onion is translucent. Now add the leeks and carrots and cook until they are soft. Add the tomatoes, together with the stock, garlic, wine, rind and saffron (should you wish to use it). Add salt and pepper to taste.

Simmer the ingredients on a low heat for an hour, covering the pot with a lid. After an hour, add the small potatoes and filleted fish. Bring the soup to a boil and then reduce the heat, allowing the soup to simmer for 10 minutes.

Lift the fish pieces from the soup and lay them on a platter, covering them with foil to retain the heat. Let the potatoes cook for a further quarter of an hour. Remove them and lay the on the platter.

Let the soup cool, remove the rind, liquidise and re-heat. Return the potatoes and fish to the soup and ladle your fish soup onto the bread (a slice for each bowl) with a sprinkling of cheese and parsley.

Tags: cooking, eating healthily, food, soup, vegetables