Hearty Fish Soup
Says Debbie Groff from San Antonio, Texas, “If a recipe requires lots of preparation, I usually don’t make it. This chunky soup is convenient because it calls for frozen vegetables and canned tomatoes with herbs already added.”
Says Debbie Groff from San Antonio, Texas, “If a recipe requires lots of preparation, I usually don’t make it. This chunky soup is convenient because it calls for frozen vegetables and canned tomatoes with herbs already added.”
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- dash cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon seafood seasoning
- 1-1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1 small garlic clove minced
- 2 small shallots chopped
- 14 1/2 ounces diced tomatoes with basil oregano and garlic, undrained
- 3/4 cup frozen mixed vegetables
- 1/2 cup frozen cubed hash brown potatoes
- 1 halibut fillet cut into bite-size pieces
- Carbohydrate 15.3321807751899 g
- Cholesterol 43.52 mg
- Fat 3.58660567116599 g
- Fiber 2.38406666580837 g
- Protein 31.5383744748681 g
- Saturated Fat 0.527976549028652 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (344g)
- Sodium 748.039725371352 mg
- Sugar 12.9481141093816 g
- Trans Fat 0.803794192482465 g
- Calories 218 calories
Step-by-step
- In a large saucepan coated with cooking spray, saute shallots and garlic until tender. Add the tomatoes, broth, mixed vegetables, hash browns, seafood seasoning, sugar, allspice, cayenne and bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
- Add halibut; simmer 2-3 minutes longer or until fish turns opaque. Just before serving, discard bay leaves. Yield: 4 cups.
Swapping the halibut for a delicate flatfish like sole will drastically alter the cooking time, requiring you to shorten the simmer phase significantly to prevent the protein from dissolving entirely into the broth. Fish soups have a long lineage spanning coastal fishing communities where daily catches were routinely preserved or immediately simmered with pantry staples like dried aromatics and root vegetables. Understanding visual cues remains essential when preparing delicate proteins because flesh cannot be reliably gauged through touch alone. Raw fish possesses a translucent quality that light passes through easily, but heat alters the myofibrillar proteins, causing them to scatter light and turn completely opaque at precisely 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Monitoring this visual shift prevents overcooking, which squeezes out moisture and leaves the flesh dry. Simmering the liquid rapidly before adding the fish ensures that the ambient temperature stays high enough to cook the bite-sized pieces within three minutes without boiling the delicate edges into shreds. Discarding the bay leaves before serving is necessary because their rigid, leathery structure poses a choking hazard and they release bitter tannins if left to steep indefinitely. Keeping the heat at a gentle bubble rather than a rolling boil prevents turbulence from breaking apart the cubed potatoes and tender vegetables as they finish softening in the broth.
