HungryForever

SOUPE DE POISSON [Strained Fish Soup]

Soupe de poisson has the same taste as bouillabaisse, but the soup is strained and pasta is cooked in it to give a light liaison. If you are making the soup on the Mediterranean, you will come home with dozens of tiny, freshly caught fish all colors of the rainbow. Elsewhere, use whole fish, fish heads, bones, and trimmings, shellfish carcasses, or just bottled clam juice.

Ingredients

A soup kettle
1cup minced onions
cup ¾of minced leekor ½more onions
cup ½olive oil
4cloves mashed garlic
1cup lb. of ripered tomatoes roughly chopped, or 1½ cups drained canned tomatoes, or ¼tomato paste
2quarts ½Water
6 Parsley Sprigs
1 Bay Leaf
tsp ½thyme or basil
tsp ⅛fennel
2pinches bigof saffron
tsp A 2-inch piece or ½dried orange peel
tsp ⅛pepper
1 Tb saltnone if clam juice is used
3quart to 4 lbs. lean fishfish heads, bones, and trimmings, shellfish remains, or frozen fish from the list, this page. Or, 1clam juice, 1½ quarts of water, and no salt
cup ½to ⅔spaghetti or vermicelli broken into 2-inch pieces
A 3-quart saucepan

Instructions

Cook the onions and leeks slowly in olive oil for 5 minutes or until almost tender but not browned.
Stir in the garlic and tomatoes. Raise heat to moderate and cook 5 minutes more.
Strain the soup into the saucepan, pressing juices out of ingredients. Correct seasoning, adding a bit more saffron if you feel it necessary. Stir in the pasta and boil for 10 to 12 minutes or until tender. Correct seasoning again.