Recipe: Genoese Fish Soup

This is a seriously awesome soup. I used to think I didn't like fish, but I could eat this soup every day for the rest of my life and be happy. Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration, but it was astoundingly good. It is from my most favorite soup cookbook ever. As far as I know, the book, Soup Bowl, is out of print, but there are still plenty of used copies for sale on Amazon.com. Out of the two dozen (at least) soups we've tried from this book, I think we've only not loved three of them. If you cook at all, you need this book. (There, does that justify sharing their recipe on my blog? I did make some minor adjustments, and, like always, the actual text is my own words.)

Genoese Fish Soup (like as in "from Genoa, Italy"):

2 Tbsp butter

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

2 oz rindless bacon, fried and diced

2 celery stalks, chopped

14oz canned, chopped tomatoes (I think the cans actually come in 14.5 oz - also, you could easily substitute in 3-4 peeled, diced fresh tomatoes)

2/3 cup dry white wine (I use vermouth)

3+ generous cups fish stock (I used vegetable stock)

4 fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces

2 Tbsp chopped, fresh parsley leaves, divided

1 lb whitefish fillets (I used cod), skinned and chopped

4+ oz cooked, peeled shrimp, tails removed

salt and pepper to taste

Fry up some bacon.

Melt the butter in a stockpot over medium-low heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, over low heat for about 5 minutes.

Add the fried bacon and celery and cook, stirring frequently, for another 2 or so minutes.

Add the tomatoes (undrained), wine, stock, basil, and 1 Tbsp of the parsley, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes.

Add the fish and cook (on the same simmering temp) for at least 5 minutes, or until all the pieces are opaque. Add the shrimp and heat through, for about another 3 minutes (I then turned the heat to low and let it cook for a little bit longer while I got the table ready, etc). Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with the remaining parsley.

Serves 4