French Fish Soup

Ingredients

• 8 large shrimp
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 star anise
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 sprigs thyme
• 1 leek stalk
• 1 onion
• 4 tomatoes
• 1 bulb fennel
• 300 g small, waxy potatoes
• 1 Carrot
• 2 Garlic cloves
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 200 ml dry white wine
• Sea salt
• pepper, freshly ground
• 1 pinch saffron strands
• 250 g shellfish (e.g., mussels, Venus clams)
• a splash of vermouth (e.g., Pernod)

Instructions

1. 1.

   Rinse the fish and pat dry. Fillet and devein. Cut all fillets into bite‑sized pieces. Wash the shrimp, remove the head, peel only the tail segment, and devein. In a hot pot, briefly sauté the fish carcasses (without gills) with the shrimp shells in 1 tbsp oil. Cover with 1 l cold water, add star anise, bay leaf, and thyme, and bring to a boil. Simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes just below the boil, skimming off foam as needed.

2. 2.

   Wash, clean, or peel the leek, onion, tomatoes, fennel, potatoes, carrot, and garlic. Slice the leek into rings, cut the potatoes into pieces, dice the unseeded tomatoes, slice the fennel bulb, finely shred the onion and carrot, cut the fennel green into rings, and thinly slice the garlic.

3. 3.

   Add the remaining oil to a hot pot and sauté the leek with onion, fennel, carrot, and garlic until translucent. Stir in tomato paste and paprika, then deglaze with white wine. Strain the fish stock through a fine sieve and add it to the pot, bringing to a boil. Add potatoes and tomatoes, season with salt, pepper, saffron, and simmer gently for about 20 minutes. Add water if needed.

4. 4.

   Wash and clean the shellfish. Combine them with the fish pieces and shrimp in the soup. Cook on low heat just until cooked through; do not boil further. Season with Pernod, salt, and pepper before serving.