I don’t know what is happening on your side of the world, but here in Estonia, we are fighting inflation rates of around 25% which means that everything is getting more and more expensive every single day. This also means that it makes sense to use up all the ingredients fully. Of course, nose-to-tail eating makes sense at all times and is super close to my heart anyway. Especially so for all animal products. I rarely eat fish or meat, but if I do I make sure that none of this is wasted. This way I will get more food for my money, and nothing is wasted – I find this way of eating just respectful.
Here in this recipe, I have used the fish bones to make a broth, and no matter how good you are at filleting a fish, there is always some meat still left on the bones, which can be utilized in a nice soup. Sometimes I don’t feel like cooking fish broth a day after I have been eating fish anyway and on those occasions, I always pack up the bones and fish head in the freezer so I can make broth when I feel like it. It also makes sense to cook a larger pot of broth, so I sometimes wait until I have 3 or 4 fish heads and carcasses waiting for me and then cook up a large pot of stock.
Autumn is a perfect time to enjoy hot meals and a slightly spicy bowl of steaming soup is just a wonderful meal to have right now. So warm and comforting. Loaded with the goodness of fresh vegetables and I also added in some edamame beans to load it with even more protein. I enjoy the texture edamame beans bring to the soup. So good!
Cooking time: 1 hour (most of it is hands-off cooking time) Serves: 4 people
Ingredients:
For the broth: The carcass of 1 smaller trout (use the fillets for another dish) 1 tsp rapeseed oil 1 carrot 1 large onion 2 stalks of celery 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger (In case you have some odd ends of other vegetables, just throw them in the broth too) 4 black peppercorns 1 bay leaf Salt, to taste 4 cups of hot water
For the soup: 1 tsp rapeseed oil 1 onion 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger 1 red chili 1 stalk of celery ½ leek 1 large carrot 1 cup of diced potatoes 1 cup of broccoli florets 1 cup edamame beans (frozen is okay) Fresh parsley, to serve
1) Start by preparing the broth. Sautee the vegetables in a bottom of a large saucepan for 3-4 minutes. Then add the fish bones to the pot, cover with water, add in black peppercorns and a bay leaf and leave to simmer on low for 30 minutes. Skim the foam off the stock in the first 10 minutes of cooking time.
2) In the meantime, chop up the onion, ginger, chili, and celery finely.
3) Cut the leek, carrot, and potatoes into larger pieces, and the broccoli into florets.
4) Sweat the finely chopped veggies in the bottom of another saucepan for 5-6 minutes. Add in the carrot and keep cooking for 3-4 minutes more.
5) Once the stock has been simmering for 30 minutes turn off the heat, and pour the stock on top of the onion, ginger, chili, celery, and carrots. Simmer on low for 10 minutes.
6) In the meantime, pick the remaining trout flesh off the bones. Discard the rest.
7) Then add in potatoes, and cook for 10 more minutes.
8) Add in broccoli and edamame and keep on cooking until the veggies are done. About 5 more minutes. Mix in the trout flesh.
9) Check the seasoning and serve sprinkled with fresh parsley.
By Kadri Raig
Kadri is a food blogger and yoga teacher from Estonia. She loves to spend time in the kitchen, but most of her recipes are simple and usually don’t require more than 20 minutes of active cooking time. She thinks everybody can find time to cook healthy food at home - it's just a matter of planning. "I work in an office full time, teach yoga 7-8 hours a week, and write a blog. If I manage to cook most of my meals, then so can you!" Connect with Kadri and enjoy many more of her delicious healthy recipes on her website: www.kahvliga.ee.