If you like to make Irish food for St. Patrick’s Day and you are tired of corned beef & cabbage (which is actually American), I recommend this recipe for Fish Soup. It’s also great for Fridays in Lent, or any time you want a delicious, easy meal with plenty of protein and root vegetables.
My soup recipe comes from Irish Country Cooking by Malachi McCormick, which I bought several years ago at a used book store in Charlottesville. (I believe it is available through Amazon.) In this delightful book the author has made truly authentic Irish recipes available to American cooks. Amounts are given in cups and teaspoons, not grams, and most of the ingredients can be found at your local grocery store. These dishes are simple, country fare, often with very few ingredients and very simple instructions. Fried Brown Trout, for example, requires only a medium sized trout, butter and a little lemon juice. After melting the butter in a pan, the recipe calls for frying the fish for 3 minutes over high heat or 7 minutes over a low flame. Add lemon juice. That’s it.
Of course not all the recipes are quite this simple; otherwise no one would buy the book. Lots of Irish classics are included: Colcannon, Barm Brack, Boxty, Pratie Oaten and of course Irish Stew. There are numerous stories, discussions and explanations, so recipes like Bookmaker’s Sandwich and Dublin Lawyer will make more sense. I particularly like the two page essay on The Decent Cup of Tea, which advises the reader to, “Bring your water to the boil, a singing, rolling, no-two-ways-about-it-boil, and use it freshly boiled.”
Irish Country Cooking has some excellent, useful recipes, and also some that are not so tempting unless you like Crubeens (hind feet of pigs.) The Gingerbread is very good, as are the Porter Cake and many of the Savory Pies. The chapter on Soups is one of the best. Here you will find recipes for Pea & Hambone Soup, Clam Chowder and Brotchan Foltchep. This last one sounds rather ghastly but was supposedly a favorite of St. Columcille in the sixth century. Not being a saint I prefer the Fish Soup recipe below.
The list of ingredients is copied almost exactly from the book, but I have adjusted the directions for the sake of ease and clarity. Mr. McCormick recommends using whole fish rather than fillets to obtain better flavor. Unless your lifestyle includes calling at the local fish monger and you enjoy de-boning fish, this may be impractical. I always buy fillets of wild caught cod, and they work just fine.
To achieve the wonderful flavor of this fish soup, you need plenty of root vegetables, especially parsnips. I love parsnips, so I always look for either a very large parsnip or a one pound bag of the smaller ones. If your grocery store does not stock parsnips, you should complain. And don’t be satisfied with those trendy daikon radishes or, even worse, white carrots. In an emergency I suppose you could improvise with rutabagas or even turnips, but they are nowhere near as delicious as parsnips.
Fish Soup Recipe
Ingredients-
1 medium onion
1 large leek, thoroughly washed (both white and green parts)
3 stalks celery
1 large parsnip
2 medium potatoes
2 Tbs. fresh parsley
2 1/2 - 3 pounds white fish ( e.g., cod, whiting, flounder etc.)
3 cups water
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup white wine
2 Tbs. unsalted butter
2 Tbs. white flour
3 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
Directions-
Course-chop the vegetables and put them in a large pot. Place the fish on top. Add water and salt. (Don't be tempted to add much more water if it doesn't cover the fish yet. More liquid will be added later.)
Bring to a boil slowly.
Add the wine and one Tbs. butter.
Turn down the heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.
Now you must remove the everything from the pot, separating the liquid from the fish and vegetables. Here is how I accomplish this.
I place the largest size Pyrex Cinderella bowl in my vegetable sink, and position a strainer over the bowl. Then I carefully pour the contents of the pot into the strainer. After the broth has drained into the bowl I move the stainer onto the pot, remove the bowl from the sink, then put the strainer back over the sink.
Set the bowl of fish/veg broth aside.
In the same (now empty) pot over low heat, melt the remaining tablespoon of butter. Whisk in the flour. Then slowly stir in the reserved broth. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until broth thickens slightly. Add the vegetables and fish.
Keeping the heat on low, stir in the milk, heavy cream and cayenne pepper. Heat and stir until the soup is piping hot. (Do not boil after the milk has been added.)
Ideally the soup should now be allowed to sit for a couple of hours and then re-heated before serving, but this is not absolutely necessary.
Serve with a green salad and perhaps some nice Irish bread.
wonderful
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