Fish soup

My mother often made fish soup at family meals, so it's one of those dishes that always brings back very fond memories. Besides, it's a dish that's easy to prepare and very tasty, so the recipe Miguel Ángel, author of the blog Pimientos verdes, brings us today is ideal for this time of year.

Le Creuset ceramic soup tureen set

The Christmas holidays are ending, but one of my favorite days still remains to celebrate: Epiphany (Three Kings' Day).

For this day, I want to propose that you cook a semolina fish soup that's very, very simple but full of flavor. I give quantities for 10 people, but you can halve them to make soup for an average family. I cooked this simple fish soup in my tall 28cm casserole, but if you halve the quantities you can use a 24cm casserole to cook it.

This is a first course you should definitely consider because it's quick to prepare and economical. Each serving of soup cost me €4. Considering we are talking about a dish “for festive days,” I think it should be in our repertoire of special recipes to delight our loved ones' palates.

Ingredients (for 10 people)

• 3kg fish for soup
• 750gr prawns
• 500gr mussels
• 200gr clams
• 1 onion
• 1 leek
• 3 small tomatoes
• ½ fennel bulb
• 4 L water
• 1 glass dry white wine
• a few sprigs of parsley
• 100gr wheat semolina
• olive oil
• salt

Le Creuset round cocotte

Preparation

1. Peel the prawns and reserve the heads and shells. Keep the bodies for later in the fridge.

2. Put a splash of olive oil in a casserole and sauté the leek, fennel and onion, which you should have sliced thin. Add a pinch of salt and wait for the vegetables to soften.

3. Then add the chopped tomato and wait for it to brown well. Don't rush. The more concentrated the sofrito, the more flavor the soup will have. It will take about 10 minutes over medium heat to get the sofrito to its ideal point.

4. Add the prawn heads and shells to the casserole and keep pressing them with a spatula.

5. When the prawn shells have turned red and you have squeezed out all their flavor, add all the chopped fish to the casserole and cover with the water. Also add the white wine and the sprigs of parsley and let everything boil for 40 minutes. Skim off the foam that forms while the stock cooks with a skimmer.

6. While the broth is simmering, you can steam open the clams and mussels. To do this, pour a finger's depth of water into a Shallow Casserole and set it over the heat. When the water begins to boil, add the mussels and cover it. Wait one minute for them all to open. Remove from the heat and take the meat out of the shells. Repeat the process with the clams.

7. When the stock is ready, remove it from the heat and strain it. With the help of the mortar pestle or a wooden masher, press all the fish in a large sieve to extract all its flavor.

8. Once you have strained all the stock, add the wheat semolina and let it cook for 18 minutes. Adjust the soup's salt and also add the chopped prawn bodies. Cook two more minutes.

9. Divide the mussels and clams among the 10 soup tureens or deep plates and serve the soup. Try to distribute the prawns evenly so no one complains!