Name: Soupe de Poissons (Fish Soup)
Yield: Serves 4.
Cuisine: France
Ingredients: 1 piment or red chilli pepper; bouquet garni; 225 g(8 oz) tomatoes, peeled and chopped; 70–85 g(2½–3) white bread, crustless; 2–3 tablespoons olive oil; ½ teaspoon strands of saffron; salt, a few peppercorns; half a baguette or French stick; 1–2 cloves of garlic; 1 onion, chopped; 1 teaspoon tomato paste (optional); 6–8 tablespoons olive oil; 1 wineglass red wine; Gruyère cheese, finely grated; 2–3 cloves of garlic; 680 g(1½ lb) fish

Preparation info

Serves
4
.

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

French Country Kitchen

By Geraldene Holt

Published 1987

About

How beautifully the spectrum of French fish soups reflects the changing degrees of latitude and the intensity of the light. Starting with Normandy, whose soup is palely gleaming, creamy with flashes of peach-shaded mussels, one then travels south to the freshwater matelotes of the Loire and onwards to lively, robustly flavoured soups, red-gold with tomato and saffron and eaten with rouille, the magnificent fiery-tasting, rust-coloured sauce of the Midi.

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