Fish lovers know where to have good fish soup, but what they do not know is they can make fish soup to their liking at home too.
What I prefer this time around is the angler fish, which has two fins and thorns on its back. One of the thorns is longer than the others and hangs towards the front of its mouth. At the tip of this thorn the bacteria which live in a symbiotic relationship with the fish produce light. Angler fish swings this lantern like a fishing rod, attracts small fish and feeds on them.
This fish is not favored because it really has ugly looks and it is not known enough. But its white meat is extremely tasty.
The head and the bones are good enough to give us a tasty fish soup. You can cut the white meat into cubes and use it with onions, tomatoes and green peppers for braising.
ingredients
- head and bones of 1 angler fish of 2 kilograms
- 300 grams fish
- 1 onion, cut in half
- 1-2 cloves garlic
- 5 celery stalks
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 1/2 liters water
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- 2 medium potato, small dice, optional
- 1 medium carrot, small dice, optional
- 2-3 cremini mushroom, small dice
- 1/4 hot chili, thin slice
- 1-2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup white wine, optional
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
- a pinch of nutmeg
- 1 egg
- juice of 1 lemon
- thin slice basil or parsley or dill OR mince parsley, chive and garlic, mix with olive oil
preparation
- Put head and bones, fish, onion, garlic, 3 celery stalks and bay leaf in a pot. Pour water and vinegar in, cover, bring to boil. Lower the heat, cook for 20 min skimming couple of times. Off the heat, strain fish stock to another pot.
- Clean the head & bones, chop the fish, put aside.
- Discard rest of the ingredients in the colander.
- Add potato, carrot, mushroom, 2 thin sliced celery stalk, chili, olive oil and wine to fish stock. Bring to boil.
- Lower the heat, sprinkle spices and cook for 15-20 min.
- Mix in reserved fish.
- Whip egg and lemon juice. Temper with 2-3 ladleful soup. Slowly pour into the soup and blend. Cook for five min on medium heat.
- Serve hot soup sprinkled with herb of choice. Enjoy!
- 1 çbk = 1 çorba kaşığı = 1 table spoon = 15 ml
- 1 tsp = 1 tatlı kaşığı = 1 tea spoon = 5 ml
- 1 cup ~ 1 su bardağı = 1 cup = 240 ml
- measurements
- ps: can substitute black or largescaled scorpionfish, gurnard even salmon head & bones for angler fish.
- ps: can use blue fish, bass, haddock, salmon even small shrimp. OR small dice angler fish that you're using the head and bones.
- ps: if you don't want to use potato, add 1 tbsp flour to egg-lemon mix to thicken the soup.
- ps: can add peeled, seeds removed and small diced tomato in summer, tomato paste in winter.
EN 
TR