badseed1980 | Thing Twenty-Seven: Fish Soup

I was craving fish soup. I blame Saveur for mentioning Norwegian fiskesuppe and French salmon and scallops à la nage. It sounded just right for the weather we were having last night and the night before: cool, soggy and blah. It would be light enough to help offset some of the treats I'd been eating as people brought them into the office, but also hearty enough to be a filling dinner. I didn't want a chowder rich with cream, or a tomato-y bouillabaisse, the gorgeous Provençale stew fragrant with fennel. I love those things, but I wanted a simple and comforting dish that wouldn't weigh me down.

I picked up a box of Kitchen Basics fish stock at the store. I like their stocks: they're always really flavorful and well-balanced, instead of just tasting like salty water, as some storebought broths do. I decided on salmon and cod for the fish: both have a real flavor of their own that would shine through in a simple preparation. I also bought a couple of leeks and a bag of baby red potatoes.

To make the dish, I started by melting some butter in the bottom of my Dutch oven. I was looking to make the kind of dish that fishermen eat when they return home from cold northern waters and rub their hands over the stove as it cooks. Those aren't olive oil kinds of places. So: butter. In that butter, I gently cooked the (split, washed, and sliced) leeks, careful not to brown them. Then, I poured in that broth, and added the potatoes, which I'd cubed. Looking at the pot, it didn't look like quite enough broth. I could have added some chicken broth to top it up, but that didn't sound right. Instead, I poured in some plain water, and cut a big piece of dried kelp to throw in. Usually, I keep that stuff around for making Japanese kombu dashi, but it felt right in here too. The only seasoning I added was a generous amount of dried dill. I covered the pot, and let it simmer until the potatoes were nice and tender. Red potatoes are great in soups where they aren't being used as a thickener, because they don't break down so easily. Instead, they turn into soft but firm little bites that absorb flavors from the broth. When they got to that stage, I added the cod and salmon, cut into chunks. It only took a couple of minutes for the fish to cook through, and as it did, it enriched the broth with its flavor. I adjusted the salt a bit, but that was the only tweaking it required.

The soup fulfilled its job admirably. It was filling, warming, and just right. It made me think of cold winds on the Atlantic, and of hot fires in cozy kitchens. This is something I need to do more often in cold weather.