Fish Soup with Oysters

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg fish stock (from premium fish such as wolffish, sea bass)
• 1 bundle mirepoix vegetables
• 40 g Butter
• 1 sprig thyme
• 6 white peppercorns
• salt to taste
• 0.5 l dry white wine
• 1 l water
• 200 g artichoke hearts (canned)
• 16 oysters
• 1 tbsp Noilly Prat
• 0.5 lemon (sliced)
• parsley for garnish

Instructions

1. 1.

   Wash and finely chop fish scraps. Wash, trim, and roughly chop mirepoix vegetables. Melt butter in a pot, sauté the fish scraps, then add vegetables, herbs, and spices; sauté briefly and deglaze with wine. Add water and let everything simmer gently for about 20 minutes. Line a fine sieve with cheesecloth, strain the fish stock through it, and let it drip without squeezing! Transfer the strained stock to another pot and reduce to about 1 liter.

2. 2.

   Quarter artichoke hearts. Wash oysters and open them: hold each oyster on its convex side in a kitchen towel, pierce the hinge with an oyster knife, then twist to open. Remove the upper muscle from the shell, discard the top shell, then remove the lower muscle from the shell; strain the oyster liquid through a sieve into the soup. Clean any shell fragments off the oysters with a finger. Simmer oyster meat and artichoke hearts in the fish stock for 3–4 minutes.

3. 3.

   Season the soup with Noilly Prat, add halved lemon slices, sprinkle with parsley, and serve.