This soup is packed full of veggies (red pepper, fennel, tomatoes, carrots and onions) and done in a jiffy. The recipe is from Crisp, and I love it’s simplicity, I did adjust a few things though as I felt it could do with a little extra flavour. I added an additional fish stock cube, some tomato paste, chili flakes and a bayleaf (which I removed before blending). All in all it was a great and quick simple dinner, great for a busy weeknight.
The cheesy garlic bread was a happy accident. I’d run out of olive oil, I only had a teaspoon or so left, so I replaced the olive oil with grated cheese, added some garlic and parsley, squeezed into slots in the bread and baked it in the oven for ± 12 minutes. YUM-MMMMIE, I have no other words for it, will definitely make this with soup again!
Simple Vegetable Fish Soup with Cheesy Garlic Bread
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...Ingredients
- The soup
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 2-3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1 fennel, hard core removed and roughly sliced, green fronds set aside
- 2-3 carrots (± 150 g), peeled and roughly chopped
- 2-3 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- ± 1/4 white wine (optional)
- 1 tbsp paprika powder
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- Pepper & Salt
- 1 tsp Chili flakes (or more to taste)
- 1-2 bayleaves
- 2 fish stock cubes or 1 jar fish stock (see notes)
- Enough water to just cover the vegetables, ± 750 ml
- ±150 g cooked crayfish or prawns
- 100 g full fat cream (leave out if you'd like to keep it lighter)
- The Garlic Bread
- 1 bake-off baguette
- 1/2 cup grated (mature) cheese
- 1 garlic clove, grated
- 2-3 twigs thyme, leaves separated from twigs
- Small bunch parsley, finely chopped
- 1 - 2 tsp olive oil
Instructions
The Soup
Preheat the oven to 220°C (or the temperature which is mentioned on the packaging of the bread).
Heat a glug of olive oil in a heavy based sauce pan and add the onions and garlic. Sauté until translucent and fragrant, ± 3 minutes.
Add the vegetables (fennel, bell pepper, tomatoes and carrots) and give it a good mix.
Add the paprika powder and tomato paste and stir well making sure everything is coated.
Stir fry for another 3-4 minutes, making sure it doesn't burn (add a drop of water if you feel it's too dry).
Deglaze the pan with a drop of white wine (optional), let alcohol evaporate for ± 2 minutes.
Add the stock (cubes) and the water, the vegetables should just be covered.
Add the sugar and the bayleaves.
Bring to the boil and let simmer for ± 20 minutes.
Turn the heat off, remove the bayleaves and then purée the vegetables with a hand mixer into a smooth soup.
Stir in the cream, taste and season with pepper & salt to your liking.
Reheat the soup for a few minutes and serve topped off with the crayfish or prawns (or both 😉 and the fennel fronds you had set aside.
The Garlic Bread
Make 5-6 deep cuts ± 2/3 way down) into the top of the bread, making sure the bread doesn't break off.
In a small bowl mix together all the ingredients into a paste.
Using your hands, gently pry open the bread slots and fill them one by one with the cheesy garlic paste.
Bake in the oven for ± 10 minutes.
