Soupe de poisson

French fish soup

The key thing about French fish soup is that it’s smooth, with no chunks of fish. In the classic version, fresh fish are cooked in a veggie broth, skin, bones and all. The soup is then blended and strained through a sieve. Alternatively, fresh or frozen fish fillets may be used. The soup is traditionally topped with rounds of toasted bread (croûtons), grated cheese (Comté, Emmental or Gruyère) and a spicy rouille sauce.

The flavor of French fish soup varies across the country. Onion, garlic, leek, tomatoes, finocchio, bay and thyme are generally used. In the south, dried orange rind, saffron and cayenne may be added to the broth. In the north, celery and carrots may be used instead of finocchio. Feel free to include any of these optional ingredients, or not.

The soup may be made with any lean fish — cod, halibut, haddock, sea bass, red snapper, etc. etc. The advantage of using whole fish is that the bones impart flavor and body.

The quantities below will serve 3-4 people.

2 pounds (1 kilo) fresh or frozen fish
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
1 bulb finocchio (fenouil)
1 leek
3 tbsp. olive oil
4 tomatoes or 1 can (14 oz / 400 g) plum tomatoes
1 branch fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. sea salt or table salt
freshly ground black pepper
1.5 quart (1.5 liter) water (6 cups)
1 dried cayenne pepper (optional)
1 pinch saffron (optional)
1 small strip dried orange peel (optional)
several rounds of toasted bread, preferably baguette
4-6 tbsp. grated cheese (Comté, Emmental or Gruyère)
4-6 tbsp. rouille
parsley for garnish (optional)

If using whole fresh fish, have your fishmonger gut it, remove the scales and chop off the heads, tails and fins. If using frozen fish, defrost it. Rinse off the fish and set aside.

Peel and chop the onion. Peel and halve the garlic. Slice off and discard the green bits of the finocchio, slice the bulb in half lengthwise and chop crosswise. Chop off the end of the leek and slice the white part into rounds (you can reserve the green part for another use).

Heat the olive oil to sizzling in a large soup pot. Add the veggies. Stir to coat with the olive oil. Turn the heat down to medium. Chop and add the tomatoes. Add the thyme and bay, salt and pepper. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

When the veggies have wilted and the tomatoes have started to break down, add the water and the optional ingredients if using. Bring to a boil.

Add the fish and cook at a simmer for 30 minutes.

While the soup is cooking, toast the bread, grate the cheese and make the rouille if using (which I recommend, but it’s not essential).

When the soup has cooked for 30 minutes, turn off the heat. Pour the contents of the large soup pot through a colander into a clean pot. This is the fish soup base. Set aside.

Remove the bay leaf and thyme branch from the colander. If you’ve used whole fish, extract and discard as many fishbones as possible.

Transfer the contents of the colander to a counter-top blender or, if using an immersion blender, transfer back into the large soup pot. Add two ladlefuls of the fish soup base. Purée, in batches if necessary.

Set a sieve over the pot with the fish soup base. Pass the purée through the sieve, pressing down on it with a wooden spoon or spatula to extract as much as possible. Discard what remains in the sieve. Continue until you’ve strained all of the purée.

When ready to serve, reheat the soup gently. Serve each bowl topped with a toasted round of bread. Garnish with parsley if you like. Bring the rouile and grated cheese to the table.

Serve piping hot. Serves 3-4.