A FAMILY-STYLE FISH SOUP

Emblanco is a white fish soup with vegetables, perfect as a starter for a family meal.

“Hoy, voy a poner un emblanco,” said the woman next to me at the village fish market. “Today I’m making ‘white fish soup’.” Emblanco is one of those everyday dishes in the pueblo, the sort of easy and economical dish that mothers might serve to children.

Typically, the main meal of the day, when the family sits down together, is served around 2 pm in the afternoon. (Yes, this custom is changing, as shops, offices and schools change to hora intensiva, not closing for the midday meal and long break.) La comida, the main meal, consists of primer plato (starter), segundo plato (main course) and postre (dessert). A light fish soup such as this one is the perfect starter for the comida. A main course with more substantial protein (fried fish fillets, meat or poultry) would follow.

The soup starts with a whole pescadilla, small hake. The head and spine are cooked first to produce a flavorful broth, then the fillets are added to the soup with vegetables. It's easy to remove any remaining bones after the fish has cooked. 

The best way to make this soup is to start with a whole, fresh fish. Use the head, bones and trimmings to make the caldo, the broth. Cook the pieces of fish in the broth, skim them out and, using your fingers, carefully remove all the skin and bones. This makes the soup kid-friendly. Cook the vegetables in the broth, then return the cooked fish to the pot, y ya está—that’s it.

Potatoes, carrots, onions, peppers and tomatoes cook in the fish broth. 

If you can get it, use a skinny Italian frying pepper in this recipe. Cut it crosswise into rings. Otherwise, cut green bell pepper into thin strips. Cook the tomato and onion whole. Before serving, slip the skin off of the tomato and break it and the onion into a few pieces and return them to the soup. My version has sliced leek instead of onion.

Some versions of this recipe call for the vegetables except for the potatoes to be pureed in a blender, then stirred back into the soup to thicken it (and perhaps disguise their presence from children). I like the original, with pieces of fresh veggies.

Start with a white-fleshed fish such as hake (merluza or pescadilla) or one of hake’s close relatives, such as cod, haddock, whiting or forkbeard. Also good are the flavorful, but bony, rockfish (cabracho, gallineta, rascasio).

If using a fairly large fish (more than 2 ½ pounds), it’s possible to cut 6-ounce fillets from the lomo, center, of the fish to serve as separate meal.

I separated the two 5.5-ounce fillets on the left to serve as a separate meal. I had about 9 ounces remaining for the soup. If you put all the fish in the soup, it easily serves 6. 

White Fish Soup
Sopa de Pescado Emblanco

Serves 4-6 as a starter.

Whole white fish (2 ½ pounds), filleted, head and bones reserved; fillets cut into 3-inch pieces
10 cups water
1 lemon
Sprigs of parsley
Salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium potatoes (12 ounces)
1 carrot, sliced
1 leek (white part only), sliced
1 small green pepper, sliced
1 whole tomato
Parsley to garnish

Place the fish head, bones and trimmings in a soup pot with the water, 1 slice of lemon, parsley and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil. Cook, uncovered 10 minutes. Lower heat and add the fish fillets. Cook until the fish flakes easily, 5 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove the fillets from the soup. Reserve them.

After cooking, use fingers to remove any remaining bones.

Pour the soup through a strainer. Discard lemon and parsley. When cool enough to handle, pick any flesh from the head and bones. (There are dollops of flesh in the "cheeks" and flaky bits on the "collar.")Discard the bones. 

Return the soup to the pot. 

Cut the potatoes in quarters lengthwise, then slice them crosswise. Add them to the soup with the carrot, leek, green pepper and tomato. Bring the soup to a boil and cook, uncovered, until potatoes are tender, 8-10 minutes. 

Remove the tomato with a slotted spoon. Slip off and discard the skin. Cut the tomato into several pieces and return them to the soup.

Immediately before serving, heat the soup thoroughly. Break the cooked fillets into pieces and add them to the soup with any reserved bits of fish picked from the bones. Add 2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice to the soup or else serve it with sliced lemon for diners to add at the table. Garnish with parsley.

So many more Spanish fish soups!

Seafood Bisque.

Seafood Soup.

Mediterranean Fish Chowder.

15-Minute Fish Soup.

Broth with Fish and Clams.

Fish Soup with Sour Orange.