A Pot of Soup from Greece
Thrifty, frugal ingredients make a nutrient-dense Psarosoupa Avgolemono.
I had, until recently, forgotten the nourishing value of fish broth. Last week, while dealing with an exceedingly painful middle-ear infection, my neighbour dropped over a pot of Psarosoupa Avgolemono - the Penicillin of Greek Soup that is made with the timeless combination of fish broth, vegetables and egg-lemon sauce (commonly known as Avgolemono).
Fish broth is remarkable for it’s flavour and unique nutritional profile. Alike all animal-based broths, it is rich in gelatin and trace minerals, yet it also contains key components that are beneficial for thyroid health, energy and stamina.
Broth is one of the first foods that I turn to when my children have any type of an upset stomach, or coldy/flu-like symptoms. It contains good amounts of hydrophilic colloids; compounds that attract and hold liquids in the digestive tract and assist in attracting digestive juices to the gut wall, which works to improve the process of peristalsis. Furthermore, the long cooking process for broth provides an easily absorbable source of key minerals; phosphorus, silica and calcium, together with trace minerals that can benefit digestion and assist in improving the integrity of the gut wall.
The irony of preparing fish broth at home is that the key ingredients (fish heads, tails and bones) are generally cheap or given away for free. Most customers prefer fillets or whole fish, and the off-cuts (ironically, the more nutritious parts) are usually discarded.
If you are sourcing bones from your local fish shop, look for fish that is wild caught and white-fleshed (we favour snapper and flat-head - as that’s what’s local here). Don’t use salmon or oily fish as it will taste rancid and give your kitchen a terrible smell.
My version of Psarosoupa Avgolemono is dead-easy to throw together and made with a strong base of gelatinous fish broth, vegetables and traditional Avgolemono (egg-lemon sauce). Please give it a try and let me know what you think!
What I’m Loving This Week-
Compte and Jam is my new favourite cheese + nibbles combination. Low-sugar jam is easy to throw together with leftover summer fruit, rapadura sugar and chia seeds (if you are not on instagram, give me a wave and I’ll add the recipe to the comments section of this post). Compte is a raw milk cheese sourced from the Swiss Alps, nearing the French border. It is uniquely flavoured and pairs beautifully with a tart-tasting jam. I sourced mine from the exquisite cheese shop K-Shen at the South Melbourne Market, but I have seen it at many good food outlets.
Thinker’s Tea is my new morning pick-me-up. This is a combination of sage, stinging nettle and green tea leaves which I brew into a steeping hot pot of water first thing in the morning. There are (literally) hundreds of culinary and medicinal varieties of Sage, so try sourcing yours from a nursery that specialises in medicinal and culinary herbs (see the resources on the Thinker’s Tea post as a good place to start). It’s also helpful to grow a handful of wild and witchy medicinal weeds such as Stinging Nettle and Borage to give your morning brew some oomph.
RECIPE: Psarosoupa Avgolemono
What you will need:
2.5 litres fish stock (see recipe below)
3 medium carrots
1 large leek
2-3 sticks of celery
1 fennel (optional)
1/3 cup risotto rice
fresh parsley, finely chopped (optional)
3 egg yolks
juice from 1 large lemon
sea salt and pepper
Make the Soup-
Start by finely chopping the vegetables and together with the rice (optional) place them in a large soup pot. Saute gentle with a dash of olive or coconut oil, and allow them to lightly brown and soften for 2-3 minutes. Next, add the broth, turn up the heat and bring to boil. Reduce to a gentle simmer, cooking with the lid off for 10-15 minutes. The soup will be ready when the vegetables and rice are soft and ready to eat.
Season generously with salt and pepper.
Prepare the Avgolemono by whisking together the egg yolks and lemon juice in a small bowl with a fork or mini-whisk. Remove a 1/2 cup of the broth and whisk it in with the egg yolks and lemon juice. Then return the Avgolemono to the soup pot and stir well. Add in the finely chopped parsley and stir immediately.
Fish Broth recipe -
Source as many fish heads and fish bones that will fit into your stockpot. Make sure you look for white fleshed, wild-caught varieties of fish, and avoid oily fish and salmon as your stock will turn rancid with cooking.
In your stock pot, cover your bones with cold water and a dash (roughly 1/4 cup to a very large 10L stockpot) of apple cider vinegar. Also add a chopped onion, a handful of peppercorns and any sticks of celery, carrots and fennel that you have on hand.
Bring the stock to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer, skim off any skum that arises to the surface and allow it to gently simmer for 1.5 hours. For the last twenty minutes of cooking, add in a handful of parsley and any wild herbs that you have on hand (from our garden I usually source some stinging nettles, oregano and sage, but this is entirely optional).
After two hours, your stock should be a lovely golden colour and rich with nutrients and flavour. Drain your stock through a fine sieve and set aside.
The bones can be discarded. We bury ours deep in the garden for some extra nutrients and plant fertiliser.
Store in a glass jar in the fridge. Fish stock also freezer very well.
Some recipe notes for making Fish Soup:
The quantity of vegetables used in this recipe may be a little less or a little more (it depends on the size of the vegetables), so try to be a little flexible.
You might want to add some fish alongside your vegetables. Traditionally, a whole fish was cooked within the broth and the bones picked out and the flesh added in. I’ve created a variation to this method (as our fishmonger was so generous with his bones this week) but you can add some fish fillets in during the final stage of cooking if you like.
And here’s the take-away -
Store the soup in glass jars in the fridge or freezer, for easy access on the days when you feel just that little bit flat. It keeps well and can last for several days in the fridge and a good few weeks in the freezer. Make sure you leave a good 1-2 inch gap at the top of the jar before you freeze, as the liquid will expand during the freezing process.