Claudia Roden’s Catalan fish soup recipe
Called bullinada in Spanish, this creamy soup is a flavoured with white wine and garlic.
“The Catalan bullinada is like the bourride of the French Riviera and the gazpachuelo of Malaga – a fish soup with garlic mayonnaise stirred in,” says Claudia Roden. “It has a mysterious delicate flavour and beautiful warm colour.”
The veteran food writer suggests using fish such as hake, monkfish or cod cheeks, and adding squid or prawns if you like: “You can make much of it in advance and finish the soup a few minutes before you are ready to eat.”
Ingredients:
(serves 6)
1 large onion, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
8 garlic cloves: 6 finely chopped and 2 crushed good pinch of saffron threads 2 litres fish stock (use 3 fish stockpots)
100ml dry white wine
800g new potatoes, peeled and cut into 1.5cm slices
1 tsp fennel seeds strips of peel from ½ orange 800g skinless fish fillets, such as hake or monkfish
200ml good-quality bought mayonnaise juice of ½ lemon good pinch of chilli pepper, plus extra to serve
4 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley salt and black pepper
Method:
1. In a wide pan, fry the onion in the oil over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes until it begins to soften. Add the chopped garlic and stir for
minutes until it just begins to olour.
. Stir in the saffron and pour in he fish stock and the wine, then
ut in the potatoes, fennel seeds nd orange peel and season
ith salt and pepper. Simmer, overed, for 20–25 minutes until
e potatoes are tender.
. Ten minutes before you are
ady to serve, remove the range peel and put in the fish. ook, covered, over low heat r 4–10 minutes, depending on
e fish and the thickness of the lets, until the fish becomes
aque and the flesh begins to ke when you cut into it with a inted knife. Break the fillets
o pieces.
. In a jug, beat the mayonnaise with the lemon juice, the crushed garlic and a pinch of chilli.
5. Just before serving, add a ladleful or two of the hot stock into the mayonnaise mixture and beat it in, then gently stir into the simmering soup. Heat through but do not let it boil or the mayonnaise will curdle. Serve sprinkled with parsley and pass round some chilli for anyone who would like to add more.