A Simple Soup

I really like soup but sometimes I get tired of eating miso soup so I make something 'western'. Here is a recipe for a simple cream fish soup. Sorry, I made it up myself so everything is 'about this much' rather than exact measurements.

1. Put 2 tablespoons of good quality olive oil in a pan. Turn on the gas to low-medium heat. (Point: oil olive burns easily so don't make it too hot. You can use other oil like canola, but olive oil is healthy and delicious.)

2. Add two cloves of chopped or crushed garlic.
(Note: a clove is one small piece of garlic, and a bulb is the whole round thing that comes out of the ground.)

3. Add one half of an onion, thinly sliced.

4. While the garlic and onion are frying on LOW HEAT, do the next steps. You should stir the pan sometimes.

5. Slice some potatoes very thinly. (About 2mm - I use a slicer/grater you can buy at the supermarket or homecenter.) Add the potatoes to the oil and mix. Be careful not to break the slices.

6. Cut the ends off some green beans and cut them into 3cm pieces. Add to the pan and toss in the oil.

7. Add half of a very thinly sliced carrot. (Again I use the slicer.)

8. Add about a 5mm slice of butter. Toss the vegetables so the butter and oil covers them.

9. Add about 1 to 2 tablespoons of plain flour. Mix so the flour and butter coats all the vegetables. It looks a bit sticky but make sure the butter/flour is on the vegetables, not on the bottom of the pan.

10. Add some milk a little at a time while mixing, about 700ml in total. MIX continuously! If the butter/flour coated the vegetables, it will be very easy for it to melt into the milk to make a very smooth soup. DO NOT BOIL IT!!!
(Note: more milk or less flour will make the soup thinner. If you want a thick soup like stew, add more butter and flour at first, maybe 1cm of butter and 3 to 4T of flour. I usually use skim milk that I made from powder, but any milk is okay.)

11. Add two fillets of white fish. I like cod (tara) and I rinse the fillets under water first. Cook on a low heat for a few minutes until the fish becomes white. DO NOT BOIL!

12. Serve

The total time from start to finish is less than 15 minutes because I prepare the next thing while the first things are cooking.

This is delicious served with a simple green salad and French bread. You can use salmon fillets for variation or add a pinch of curry powder to the cod soup. It is also nice the next day for breakfast! If you make it thick like stew you can change it into gratin by putting it in a baking dish, adding cheese to the top and baking. Or put the stew on top of toast, add some cheese and bake it :)