Epicure Recipe Card #50: Steamed Red Mullet with Mediterranean Vegetables

I wandered down to our local fish shop and peered into their display. They were starting to pack away their goods but there didn’t appear to be any red mullet nor any signs indicating there may have been earlier in the day either. Fast forward to a week later and I go to the same fish shop – this time much earlier in the day – yet still I have no luck with any red mullet. However, I do have zucchini and tomato in my fridge so I decide to use any fish instead. For once I had good intentions of following this recipe, but it seems the forces of nature (or, at least, the fish shop) were definitely against me.

With the fish somewhat sorted, I then had an onion ‘incident’ when I went to make this. We usually have an onion or three kicking about chez Monsieur Poisson et Mademoiselle Délicieuse. My mother-in-law buys a small bag and it gets split between our two households, along with things like garlic and ginger. I picked up the last onion from its bowl and, whilst it appeared perfectly fine from atop, its base proceeded to drip a brown-tinged liquid across our kitchen floor as I moved across it. We have white tiles and it was all a bit icky. As a result, I was sadly left onion-less for this recipe.

Poached Fish Soup (serves 2)

(adapted from The Age – Epicure 50 Best Recipe Cards, recipe by Jill Dupleix)

Ingredients:

·         1 tbs olive oil

·         ½ small onion, finely sliced (I didn’t use this – please see above for why)

·         1 small garlic clove, crushed

·         1 medium tomato, diced

·         1 zucchini, diced

·         500mL hot fish or vegetable stock

·         2 fillets of flaky fish (whatever type you like), cut into bite-size pieces

·         1 tbs small black olives

Method:

1. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat and cook onion for around 10 minutes until soft. Add garlic, tomatoes, zucchini for 5 minutes before adding stock. Reduce heat and simmer gently for around 20 minutes then season to taste.
2. Gently place pieces of fish in the soup and increase heat to medium to gently poach.
3. When fish is cooked, stir olives through soup. If desired, scatter with parsley and serve with crusty bread.

happy cooking!