Oyster Soup

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg fish carcasses (e.g., ling, sea bass)
• 1 bundle mirepoix vegetables
• 40 g Butter
• 1 sprig thyme
• 6 white peppercorns
• Salt
• 0.5 l dry white wine
• 1 l water
• 3 tomatoes
• 12 oysters
• 1 tbsp Noilly Prat
• 1 tbsp finely chopped basil

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 the vegetables, herbs, and spices, sautéing briefly before deglazing with wine. Add water and simmer gently for about 20 minutes. Line a fine sieve with cheesecloth, strain the fish stock through it, letting it drip without squeezing. Transfer the strained stock to a pot and reduce to approximately 1 liter.

2. 2.

   For the garnish, blanch the tomatoes for a few seconds, shock in ice water, peel, quarter, deseed, and dice into small cubes. Wash and open oysters: hold each oyster with the convex side down on a kitchen towel, pierce the hinge with an oyster knife, twist to open, cut off the top muscle from the shell, remove the upper shell, then cut off the lower muscle from the shell. Strain the oyster liquid through a sieve into the soup. Clean any shell fragments from the oysters with a finger. Simmer the oyster meat and tomato cubes in the fish stock for 3–4 minutes.

3. 3.

   Season the soup with Noilly Prat and sprinkle with basil before serving.