Fish Soup with Leek & Potato

INGREDIENTS

  • 300 – 350g of white fish (cod, haddock or pollock)
  • 1 medium onion
  • 2 leeks – the white part
  • 3 medium potatoes (floury type are best)
  • 2 tablespoons of butter  – to fry the onions
  • 1½ litres of vegetable stock
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 4 grains of allspice
  • 4 grains of black pepper
  • 125ml soured cream
  • Salt & Pepper to taste – if needed.
  • *
  • Large handful of chopped flat leaved parsley to serve.

Method

  • Chop the onion into small pieces.
  • Lightly fry in the butter but do not brown.
  • Chop the leek into small rings and add to the onions and butter.
  • Stir and lightly fry – again do not brown.
  • Add the stock, bay leaves, allspice and black pepper.
  • Bring to the boil and then lower the heat.
  • Start to simmer gently.
  • Chop the potatoes into small pieces and add to the soup.
  • Boil gently for around 15 minutes until the potatoes are nearly cooked.
  • Add the fish and cook for about 10 minutes.
  • Break up the fish into small pieces.
  • Season if needed.
  • Stir in the soured cream.
  • Add chopped parsley leaves to serve.

20240709_143425

Royal Doulton Burgundy soup plate

One of my testers thought this was the best ever!

Fish Soup with Tomatoes

  • Here is another recipe adapted from some of my Polish soup books.
  • It is a very filling chunky soup – nearly a meal in itself.

INGREDIENTS

  • 350g of white fish (cod, haddock or pollock)
  • 1 large onion – chopped
  •  2 -3 tablespoon sunflower oil to fry the onions
  • ¼ of a large celeriac or 4 stalks of celery – chopped into small pieces.
  • 1 leek – the white part – chopped into rings
  • 1 carrot – coarse grated.
  • 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
  • 1 ½ to 2 litres of vegetable stock
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 4 peppercorns
  • Salt & Pepper, if needed, to taste
  • *
  • 75 g macaroni or other small pasta – cooked.
  • Large handful of chopped flat leaved parsley to serve.

METHOD

  • Gently fry the onions in the sunflower oil without browning.
  • Add the celery, leek and carrot, mix and fry a little longer.
  • Add the vegetable stock, bay leaf and peppercorns.
  • Bring to the boil and then simmer gently until the vegetables are soft.
  • Add the can of tomatoes and simmer a little longer.
  • Add the pieces of fish and simmer for around 10 minutes.
  • Break up the cooked fish into smaller pieces.
  • Add the cooked macaroni and heat for another minute or two.
  • *
  • Season if necessary (might not be needed)
  • Serve with chopped parsley of top.

Royal Doulton Carnation soup plate.

Fish Soup with Celery

  • I have been looking at some of my Polish soup books and have seen several recipes for fish soups.
  • I decided to try some of them out and this is one of them.
  • I have posted several fish soup recipes before, one with peppers – one with salmon  and one similar white  fish soup recipe.
  •  

INGREDIENTS

  • 350 g of white fish (cod, haddock or pollock)
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 large onion
  • 2 leeks – the white part
  • 2 tablespoons of butter  to fry the onions
  • 3 stalks of celery
  • 3 carrots
  • 1½ litres of vegetable stock
  • 2 bay leaf
  • 3 grains of allspice
  • 3 grains of black pepper
  • Salt & Pepper to taste – if needed.
  • *
  • 125ml of soured cream
  • Large handful of chopped flat leaved parsley to serve.

METHOD

  • Cut the fish into large chunks.
  • Wrap the fish with the lemon juice in a foil parcel and keep chilled for 30 minutes.
  • Chop the onion into small pieces.
  • Slice up the leek into rings.
  • Slice the celery into small pieces.
  • Chop the carrots into small cubes.
  • Gently fry the vegetables in oil without browning them.
  • Add the stock, bay leaves, allspice and peppercorns.
  • Bring to the boil and them simmer gently until the vegetables are soft.
  • Add the fish and simmer for around 10 minutes.
  • Separate the fish chunks into smaller pieces. 
  • *
  • Add the soured cream and stir.
  • Season to taste,
  • Serve with the parsley sprinkled on top. 

Royal Doulton Carnation soup plate

White Fish & Pepper Soup

Ingredients

  • 1 onions
  • 2 red peppers
  • Around 250g of white fish – cod, plaice, basa etc
  • 1 litre vegetable stock
  • ½ teaspoon hot paprika
  • A little sunflower oil
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • *
  • Optional – chopped parsley or chives to garnish 

Method

  • Cut the onion in half and then slice it thinly.
  • De-seed the peppers and then cut into long thin slices.
  • Lightly fry the onion and peppers in a little sunflower oil till soft.
  • Add the paprika and the vegetable stock.
  • Bring to the boil and then simmer gently for around 10 minutes.
  • Add the pieces of fish and simmer for around 15 minutes.
  • Take out the fish, remove any skin and cut into chunks.
  • Put the fish back into the soup.
  • Stir.
  • Season if necessary.
  • *
  • Garnish with green herbs if you have them.
  • *
  •  Great with crusty French style bread.

Served in a Royal Doulton Burgundy rimmed soup plate.

Fish Pierogi

  • I decided to try these after making fish pulpety, which were so good.
  • I adapted the filling slightly.
  • I used frozen basa fish but cod or haddock would also be good.
  • I have not made pierogi with a fish filling before – the verdict – delicious!

Ingredients – Filling

  • 150-200g cooked white fish
  • 1 onion chopped fine
  • 3 tablespoons of butter
  • 1 egg – beaten
  • 1 slice white bread or a small bread roll
  • 1 tablespoon of dried breadcrumbs
  • Chopped flat-leaved parsley
  • Salt & Pepper to taste
  • *
  • Melted butter – to serve

Method – Filling

  • Fry the onions gently in the butter till golden.
  • Leave the onions to cool.
  • Make crumbs from the white bread.
  • Chop the fish into small pieces.
  • Mix the ingredients together.
  • Season to taste.
  • Use the filling to make pierogi *in the usual way.
  • *
  • *Quick recap of pierogi instructions below

To Serve

  • These are good served just with the melted butter.
  • I also liked the gently refried ones, in the butter, the next day.

*Pierogi Instructions

Ingredients – Dough

  • 250g pasta flour or plain flour & 2 tablespoons of fine semolina
  • 150ml water
  • 1 tablespoon oil – sunflower or light olive
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg yolk

Method – Dough

  • In a jug or bowl mix together the water, oil and the yolk.
  • Put the flour and salt into a large bowl and make a well in the centre.
  • Pour in the liquid from the jug and initially use a knife to mix this into the flour and then use your hands to mix the liquid and flour to get a ball of dough.Turn this out onto a floured board and knead the dough for a few minutes until you have a smooth ball.
  • Cover and leave to rest for about ½ an hour.
  • *
  • Cut the dough into half.
  • Prepare a large tray and cover it with a clean cotton or linen tea towel and sprinkle this with flour.
  • On a floured board roll out the dough a half at a time until you have a sheet of thinly rolled dough.
  • Cut out circles using a 7 cm diameter cutter.
  • The excess dough can be re-mixed and rolled out again.
  • Around a half tablespoon of filling is put on  each circle and then they are folded over and the edges pinched together to make a good seal.
  • You learn from experience how much filling to put in as too much will make it hard to seal them and if not properly sealed they will burst on boiling.  Do not worry if you have a few mishaps – it still happens – even with experience – it is hard to salvage one that has gone wrong – just accept that there will be a few that you do not cook.
  • Place the sealed pierogi on prepared tray until they are all made, do not let then touch each other.
  • *
  • To cook the pierogi, use a large pan of boiling water to which you have added some salt and a drizzle of oil.
  • Drop the pierogi in one by one and allow them to boil.  I usually do about 5 to 6 at a time.
  • As they cook they will float to the surface, let them boil for 2 minutes and then remove them with a slotted or perforated spoon and put into a colander above a pan for a few seconds to drain and serve with melted butter.
  • Continue boiling batches in the same water.
  • If you want to make all the pierogi to serve together then you need to get a large oven proof dish.
  • Melt lots of butter in the dish.
  • Keep the dish warm in a low oven.
  • As you take out the cooked pierogi add them to the dish and coat them with the melted butter.
  • Keep on adding more as they cook.

Fish Soup

  • I thought that this soup would be excellent for Good Friday.
  • The base is a simple vegetable soup with mainly “green” vegetables and a few carrots.
  • You can vary the vegetables that you use.
  • Any white fish will be good and  you just need small pieces.
  • Where my late father used to live the small river formed part of the border between the then Poland and Russia.
  • He would often catch river fish, which he really liked.
  • I am sure he would have enjoyed this soup. 

Ingredients

  • 150g white fish  (Basa, Cod or Haddock)
  • 1 onion 
  • 2 leeks
  • 2 sticks of celery
  • ½ tin of sweetcorn
  • 1 large carrot
  • 3 tablespoons of butter
  • 1½ litres of vegetable stock
  • 2 tablespoons of soured cream
  • Salt & Pepper to taste

Method

  • Chop up the onion and leeks.
  • Fry them gently in the butter.
  • Chop the celery into thin slices.
  • Chop the carrots into small pieces.
  • Mix all the vegetables together and add the stock.
  • Bring to the boil and then simmer till nearly soft.
  • Cut the fish into small pieces and add them to the soup.
  • Simmer till the fish is cooked.
  • Stir in the soured cream.
  • Season to taste.

 

Royal Doulton Burgundy Soup Plate

Optional – If you use more fish you can serve this more as a main dish .