back to soups...

i have decided many times that i really need to start making more use of what there is in the freezer... yesterday i fished out some, yep, fish, namely burbot (you all know the ugly bugger by now, right?). i had brought some from cottage few weeks back and thought it was time to make a soup out of it.

raw fish rarely makes a nice picture, but here is one anyway







bought a bulb of fennel out of a whim, thinking that if they use fennel in bouillabaisse it goes with fish. amazing logic, don't you think... anyways, ended up using only half of the bulb, along with the very green parts of a leek and 3 big potatoes, and cream (the good stuff)







started by poaching the fish until opaque but not cooked thru in 5 dl of water with some peppercorns in it, for approx 5 mins. then took the fish out, strained the cooking liquid (which we from now will call fish stock), cleaned the pot and...







...sauteed the leeks in butter for a few minutes before...







...adding chopped fennel and potatoes, the fish stock...







...and 1 tsp of maldon salt. yes, i do use salt, with fish. well, some fish...







after the veggies had cooked approx 15 mins, i added the burbot which i had de-boned while veggies were cooking, cooked further for 5 mins...







...before adding 1 dl of cream and 1 tbsp of minced dill from the freezer







piping hot on a plate







sometimes i wonder if should be in contact with sharp objects at all...or maybe i'm used to dull knifes and when i get my hands on a really sharp one (like my new one), this happens...i don't even know how this happens, can you imagine how hard it would be to cut a thin slice of your fingernail...