Fish Soup with Fresh Halibut and Chickpeas

Travelling the world introduces you to delicious and healthy foods from all over. This is one the highlights of travelling for many people, including me. From the world’s many coastlines, you can find an abundance of seafood recipes, some simple, some complex. Seafood has many health benefits, being full of healthy fats and quality proteins. Combine it together with a few fresh vegetable and herbs and you have a healthy and delicious soup that can be a meal by itself or be a side dish with other entrees.

This fish soup recipe from California is a simple but elegant combination of flavors. It shows the region’s love for fresh ingredients and influences from its colored past. Fennel, rosemary, and parsley don’t always come to mind as flavor that work together, but in this soup they do – each flavor being enjoyed together but also standing on its own.

This is a soup, not a stew, as it is a brothy combination of ingredients that are not overcooked. Stew tends to be thicker, with the ingredients cooked and melded together over time. This soup is cooked quickly and cab a great mid-week meal for its ease and speed.

The quality of the ingredients always matters, and especially when the combination is simple. Each flavor should shine on its own while also coming together in the soup. Use fresh, quality white fish; I recommend halibut. If you have homegrown tomatoes, all the better, but any quality tomatoes will do. Fresh herbs are a must – the dried don’t provide the flavor profile this soup needs.

Enjoy this soup as you gaze out into the setting sun, and enjoy your life at port. Or bring a few ingredients, or even grow your own on board, and catch your own fish while out at sea! Of course, by nature being at sea means you may need to improvise, and this soup is easy to do s, as well as any of the recipes in “Kitchen Magic.”

Step 1:

1 Tbs olive oil

¾ C. chopped onion

Step 2:

1 tsp fennel seeds (crushed)

1 small sprig fresh rosemary (whole, 2-4 inches)

1 tomato (chop roughly)

1 can (approx. 14 oz) chickpeas (AKA garbanzo beans), drained

½ C. dry white wine

6 C chicken or vegetable broth

Step 3:

1 Lb. halibut fillets (can also use cod), cut into 1-inch chunks

Step 4:

1 tsp salt, or to taste

1 tsp black pepper, or to taste

½ C parsley, flat leaf, chopped

More olive oil for drizzling

Step 1: Heat the oil in a large saucepan on medium heat and cook onion for 3-5 minutes until softened and translucent.

Step 2: Add all the ingredients listed in “Step 2.”  Cover and bring to boil.

Step 3: Cut the fish into 1-inch chunks of you have not already. After the soup comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium, add the fish, and simmer until it is cooked through (cooked white even in the middle), 3-5 minutes.  Remove the rosemary.

Step 4: Season with salt and pepper as desired. Add parsley and olive oil for serving.

Learn how to grow your own herbs with ease and improvise your own recipes with “Kitchen Magic!”

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