Among the seafood dishes that I cooked for guests on Sunday, the first one was this red fish soup. "Red" refers both to the red snapper -- a locally caught fish -- and to the tomatoes that give the soup its color. I could not find fresh unshelled shrimp, but the snapper turned out to be a good choice for stock, which I made with:
- fish carcass and/or shrimp shells
- 10 cups water
- onions
- carrots
- parsley
- 2 bay leaves
- 0.5 tsp thyme
- peppercorns
- 0.5 tsp salt
After bringing it to a boil, I simmered the stock for half an hour. (According to Le Cordon Bleu, fish stock starts tasting bitter if you go much longer than 20 minutes; on the other hand, Nourishing Traditions calls for 4-24 hours! Go figure...)
To make the soup proper, I started with butter, onion, carrot, leek, celery and garlic. After a few minutes I added flour, then tomatoes, nutmeg, and parsley. This thick stew simmered for 15 minutes. Finally, I added the stock and snapper chunks, brought to a boil and then simmered at very low heat until the guests arrived.
- 3 tbps butter
- onions
- carrots
- leeks
- celery
- garlic
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1-2 cans of tomatoes with juice (if whole, slice them)
- nutmeg to taste
- parsley
- fish meat and/or shrimp