You've Got Meal!: comforting fish soup

A tasty, delicious Italian inspired soup that combines the subtle taste of zander with the hearty taste of Cannellini beans, all brought together by a touch of tomatoes and basil.

Fish soups, for me, aren’t really all that much of a great choice in comfort foods, but when combined with some Cannellini beans things change. And with the coming of winter this dish brought a little piece of warmth and comfort into the kitchen. There a still a lot of fresh flavors in this recipe to keep things relatively close to summer, but adding the soup shifts the recipe in a whole different direction.

Ingredients:

400 grams of fish fillets, cut into 5-7 cm pieces (we used zander),
1 can of diced tomatoes (400 grams),
200 grams of passata,
800 grams of vegetable stock,
250 grams of cherry tomatoes, both halved and whole,
3 leeks, only the white parts,
4-5 cloves of garlic,
2 tbs. of capers,
2 rosemary twigs,
2-3 bay leaves,
15 medium sized basil leaves,
3-4 tbs. of chopped olives,
fennel seeds,
salt, pepper, olive oil.

Start by cutting the leeks into slices- cook them with the garlic in some olive oil, on medium heat, until softened.
Next add the olives and capers and cook for another 5 minutes.
Pop in the tomatoes (canned, passata and fresh), rosemary, bay leaves, salt, pepper, grounded fennel seeds and the stock, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes.
5 minutes before the end add the canned cannellini beans – if you’re using uncooked ones make sure you boil them in advance.
In the final 3 minutes add the fish, after which, near the end, throw the basil leaves in the soup- they need about 1 minute to soften and infuse the soup.