RED MULLET SOUP

Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Serves 4-6

Quite apart from its striking skin colour, red mullet is amazingly flavourful. It’s great for soup as even the bones are full of richness. It’s not even essential to use fish flesh for this, though a cooked fillet chopped up for an embellishment is a nice touch.

INGREDIENTS – 400-500g red mullet bones and trimmings (including heads if possible)

– 50ml vegetable or

rapeseed oil

– 1 medium onion,

roughly chopped

– 1 small leek, trimmed, washed and roughly chopped – 1 medium potato, peeled and roughly chopped

– 3 garlic cloves, finely

chopped

– a good pinch of saffron – 1 tsp fennel seeds

– 10 black peppercorns – 2 juniper berries

– 1 bay leaf

– 2 thyme sprigs

– 1 tbsp tomato purée

– 1 x 227g tin chopped

tomatoes

– 2 litres fish stock

To finish

– 1 medium potato, peeled and cut into rough 1cm dice

– 2 tbsp chopped

coriander

– 1 cooked red mullet fillet, cut into bite-sized pieces (optional)

METHOD

Wash the fish bones and trimmings, cutting them into large pieces (leave the heads whole).

In a large pan, heat the oil and gently fry all the bones and trimmings with the vegetables, garlic, spices and herbs for 5 minutes.

Add the tomato purée, chopped tomatoes and fish stock. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 50 minutes.

At this point, blend a quarter of the soup in a liquidiser (bones and all) and return it to the pan, then simmer for another 15 minutes.

Strain the soup through a sieve into a saucepan.

Add the diced potato to the soup and simmer for 5-6 minutes, until tender, then season if necessary. Remove from the heat and add the coriander.

Divide the red mullet pieces (if using) between warmed soup bowls and pour the hot soup over them to serve.