Seafood

The love for fish broth (fish soup) I inherited from my uncle B. After a weekend of partying he’d usually make this soup as he claims it’s the best “thing” for a hangover and as his sidekick, I’d be very involved. Though it’s been years since I last had this, I’d have to say that I did his recipe justice. One sip and I was taken back to the age of 6 or 7.

I’ve got to mention a couple things before we start… 1. Though macaroni is an integral part of this dish, I have no love for pasta so I don’t include it im my preparations. But feel free to add any of your favourite “noodle” type pasta near the end of cooking. 2. I used sea bass in my recipe, since this dish is usually made from ‘cheap” fish. The problem with using such a fish is that you will encounter many tiny bones (be careful when eating). My suggestion would be to get any fillet of fish (fresh and from the ocean) so you’ll avoid having to worry about the tiny bones.

You’ll need…

1 fish (about 1 1/2 lbs) I used a sea bass.(cut into pieces)
4 cups fish stock
2 cups water
2 potatoes (cut in 8’s)
3 green cooking bananas (peeled and diced)
1 green onion (scallion) (chopped)
5 small okras (chopped)
1 onion (diced)
3 cloves of garlic diced
2 baby bok choy
1 tablespoon oil
1/4 hot pepper (use 2 pimentos if you have, if not use your favourite hot pepper)
1 tablespoon GoldenRay butter
1 lime
Macaroni (or you fav noodle type pasta)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon green seasoning
1 tomato
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
3 tablespoon cilantro (chopped)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Lets start off by preparing the fish. Cut the fish into serving size pieces, wash and season. To season all we’ll use is the green seasoning, salt and tomato. Now set aside to marinate as we get other ingredients ready.

Chop and dice all the vegetables, including the potato, carrot, bok choy, onion, garlic, celery, okra, green banana (I’ll post a short video on how to peel green bananas in a future post) and hot pepper. In a soup pot, add the oil and heat. Then start by adding the onion, then the garlic and cook for a few minutes. Now you can add the rest of the vegetables that we chopped and diced.

Remember to take off the stems off the okra and discard.

This is what the green banana will look like after it’s been peeled and diced…

Here’s how to chop the celery and bok choy.

Now we can add the 4 cups of fish stock, the 2 cups of water and worcestershire sauce into the pot with ALL the vegetables. Allow to come to a boil then cover and reduce to a simmer for about 15 minutes. After it’s been simmering for the 15 mins we can now add the fish, the butter and cilantro.

This is what GoldenRay butter looks like if you’re not familiar with it.

Let this all cook for another 10-15 minutes or so on a gentle heat. The last 7 minutes is when you can add the macaroni if you wish. You have a couple options with the finished dish. You can squeeze the lime juice directly into the pot or you can slice it and allow your guests to squeeze it themselves in their soup bowl. You can also top this with some chopped cilantro and additional hotsauce.

Tips.

Since we seasoned the fish with salt, used fish stock (contains salt) and added the golden ray (also known as salt butter) you probably won’t need to add any further salt. But do taste at the end and add accordingly.

After you’ve added the pieces of seasoned fish, try not to over-stir the pot or you risk the fish breaking apart.

Final tip for the day… add a couple drops of Angostura bitters near the end for an extra layer of flavour.