Ostend Fish Soup Recipe
Serves/Makes: 10
Ingredients:
- 3-4 pounds (1 1/2 – 2 kg) fish heads, trimmings and bones from e.g., gurnards, angler fish (monkfish), turbot
- 3 bunches celery
- 4 larger onions
- Salt and pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme
- 4 bay leaves
- 1 3/4 pints (1 liter) dry white wine
- 7 ounces (200 g) unsalted butter
- 4 leeks
- 6-8 carrots
- 1 pinch of saffron
- 9 ounces (250 g) tomato puree
- Ricard: 2 dashes per person
- Powdered garlic: a table
- 10 slices, squared 2 by 2 inches (5 by 5 cm)
- 5 tablespoons grated cheese (Parmesan or Gruyere if possible)
How to cook Ostend Fish Soup:
- Take a very large casserole and put 10 pints (5-6 liters) water in it, with the white parts of the celery, 2 of the onions (sliced), salt and pepper to taste, thyme and bay leaves, all the fish heads and trimmings and half the white wine. Boil all this for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, slice the remaining vegetables. Melt the butter in a second large casserole, add due diced vegetables and the remaining wine and cook gently for 10 minutes. Then add the saffron.
- Pass the fish broth through a fine strainer. Remove all usable chunks of flesh, free of skin and bone, for later incorporation in the soup and discard the debris.
- Pour the strained broth over the vegetable mixture and boil all for a further 10 minutes. Then add the tomato puree.
- To serve the Ostend Fish Soup, take a bowl for each person, put some of the saved chunks of fish in each, a couple of dashes of Ricard, a touch of garlic powder (for those who like it) and 2 ladlefuls of the fish soup. Top each helping with a square of toast covered with grated cheese.
Notes:
The Belgian name of this recipe is Oostendse Vissoep. The Ostend Fish Soup is even better if prepared on the previous day and reheated.
Ostend is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders.
Comments:
*Pernod Ricard is a French company that produces alcoholic beverages. The company’s most famous products, Pernod Anise and Ricard Pastis, are both pastis, and often referred to as simply Ricard or Pernod. The company also produces several other types of pastis1. Pastis is an anise-flavored liquor and aperitif from France, typically containing 40–45% alcohol by volume, although alcohol-free varieties exist.
This recipe for Ostend Fish Soup serves/makes: 10
The Ostend Fish Soup Recipe adopted from the book North Atlantic Seafood.
Main Ingredient: Various Fish
Preparation Method: Soup/Stew
Cuisine: Belgian