Ingredients
1 kg Greek aquaculture Meagre (in pieces)
1 kg potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
2 carrots, sliced
2 large sprigs of celery, cut into pieces
2 onions, quartered
Juice from 1 lemon
100 ml. white wine
20 saffron stamens
30 ml. top quality virgin olive oil
2 litres of water
salt & pepper
Method
1. Preparing the ingredients:
Peel and coarsely chop the potatoes, carrots, celery and onions and squeeze the lemon.
2. Boiling the vegetables:
In a pot boil 2 litres of water and as soon as it has come to the boil add 1 tsp of salt. Add the vegetables and let them cook for 15 minutes until the potatoes have become soft. Without turning down the heat, remove the vegetables from the pot and split them into two batches, one to serve with the fish and the other to mash in the blender in order to thicken the soup later on. Make sure you put more potatoes in the batch that will be blended into the soup.
3. Boiling the fish:
Place the pieces of Meagre into the still boiling soup, add the white wine, saffron and a tiny bit of olive oil. It will take the fish 10 minutes to cook. When it is done, remove from the water and place in a platter so that you can remove all the bones.
4. Finishing the soup:
Pour the soup through a fine colander to ensure that no bones are left; then put it back into the pot. Add the batch of vegetables you have kept for the soup (the one with the extra potatoes) and half of the lemon juice. Mash all the ingredients using an immersion blender, making the soup thicker. If you prefer the soup thicker, use more potatoes. When you have the texture you like, remove from the heat, add pepper, try it and add some more of the lemon juice or salt if needed.
5. Remove the bones from the fish:
Remove as many bones as humanly possible so that you can enjoy your soup without having to worry about unwanted bones!
To serve:
Serve the soup in bowls with some fish in it and serve the remaining fish and vegetables in a separate dish drizzled with olive oil.
