Fish Soup with Potato and Leek

Autumn is here and winter is approaching quickly, so today we are serving another warm and comforting soup.

This is a fish soup I often serve, and it can be varied almost endlessly. At heart it is a fairly classic potato and leek soup, but it works particularly well with fish stock and salmon or lightly salted cod. I have included a few alternatives too, giving you two or three versions to enjoy through the darker months. It is a useful basic soup to master because it leaves plenty of room for variation.

Ingredients for four

• 800 g fish or shellfish
• 1.5–2 litres fish stock or broth
• 5 potatoes
• 2 handfuls chopped leek
• 3–4 bay leaves
• A little oil for frying
• A splash of cream

Peel and cut the potatoes into pieces. Slice the leek and gently cook the potatoes and leek in a pan until the leek is soft. Add the fish stock, drop in the bay leaves and bring to the boil.

Remove the bay leaves, then give the soup a quick blend with a hand blender to break up the largest pieces of potato and leek. You can also use a potato masher.

Cut the fish into cubes and place it raw in the bottom of the bowls. Pour over the boiling soup, wait three minutes and the fish will be perfectly poached. The soup will also have cooled slightly and be ready to eat. Finish with cream to taste, or a drizzle of good olive oil.

Variations

For a chicken version, replace the fish with chicken and use chicken stock. Cook the chicken beforehand, then follow the method above.

Add a little more potato, leave out the chicken and serve the soup cold with a soft-boiled or poached egg in the centre, and you have a version of the classic French vichyssoise – or simply chilled potato and leek soup.

You could also add bacon, carrot, coriander and cumin, or crisp up leftover roast ham from Sunday dinner and add that. Pan-fried asparagus tips, cured ham and smoked salmon all work too.

Enjoy.

Tore