Souper Sunday #4: Light Tomato-Based Fish Soup

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Here is a good way to use up that bag of Costco frozen fish in the back of your freezer.  Just me?

 

Speaking of which, we got our first Costco 2% rebate cheque in the mail this week ($49.95!) since upgrading to the Executive membership, which kind of feels a bit like winning.  Which I like to do, because of a slight competitive streak in me.  For instance, when all of the blocks of cheese at the grocery store are marked at a flat price even though they are all of slightly different weights, The Hubby and I will on occasion compete for who can find the heaviest block of cheese, which definitely kind of feels like winning the cheese.  The Hubby and I also did a big shop at Superstore today and if you spent over $150 you got a free case of mangoes.  You better believe we were winning those mangoes too!  Woo doggies...we filled that cart up good!  (Why yes Hubs, you may purchase that $6 double box of frozen pizza.  And yes, please be my guest and place that chocolate milk into our cart.)  So now we have a big case of mangoes!  I'm not really sure what to do with it, but it's ours, and we totally rocked at earning it!  I am now welcoming mango recipes please.

But back to Souper Sunday!  And, what's this - light fish soup?  Mmmm....healthy food?!  Tastes good.

This soup is nice and light, but still fills you up because of the protein from the fish.  It's a great healthy dinner option for this reason.  You can get creative and use whatever fish that you feel like in this recipe, whether it's 1 1/2 pounds of all sea bass like I used, or an assortment of different types of shellfish and fish like the original recipe called for.  The world is your oyster (pardon the pun), although I wouldn't necessarily use oysters.

Short post today...once again I'm barely squeaking in getting this Souper Sunday post in while it's still technically Sunday.  Not that I am not enjoying Souper Sunday...I love it, and it's especially great to have a tasty soup to bring to work for lunches during the week.  It's just that I just made an epic butternut squash and Italian sausage lasagna for dinner tonight (this will most definitely be on the blog soon), and now I'm in a bit of a food coma on the couch with the fire on watching the hockey game with The Hubby.  I better hit 'publish' on this post before I fall asleep...zzzzzz.

Light Tomato-Based Fish Soup

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 5 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 cup chopped fennel bulb
• 1 cup thinly sliced carrot
• 1 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 - 8oz bottles clam juice 
• 1 1/2 pounds fish (see note below)
• 1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh tarragon
• 1/2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

• Directions
• Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Add onion to pan; saute 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add garlic; saute 1 minute, stirring occasionally.  Reduce heat to medium.  Add tomato paste to pan; cook 7 minutes or until paste begins to brown, stirring occasionally.  Add fennel, carrot, red bell pepper, white wine, and clam juice; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until vegetables are just tender.  Stir in fish.  Cover and cook 5 minutes or until fish is done.  Gently stir in tarragon, chopped thyme, and pepper.  Enjoy!

Note:  You could use most types of fish or seafood in this recipe.  I used Sea Bass because that's what I had on hand in the freezer.  The original recipe calls for 1/2 pound prawns, 1/2 pound of scallops and 1/2 pound halibut, which would also be a great combination.  I think using 1 1/2 pounds of all halibut or even salmon would be a great way to make this, as I really enjoyed the soup having just the one type of fish.

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• Recipe Source: Cooking Light, October 2008

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