Smoked Fish, Cider and Celeriac Soup with Apple Salad

, from Issue #49. August, 2015
Photography by Aaron McLean.
Smoked Fish, Cider and Celeriac Soup with Apple Salad

I’ve used celeriac in this hearty fish soup, but if it proves hard to find you can just use all potatoes or a combination of potatoes and fennel to weigh 900 grams.

Serves: 6

INGREDIENTS

500 grams moist smoked fish (I used Gemfish)
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons olive oil
good knob of butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 leek, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
300 grams potatoes, diced
600 grams celeriac, peeled and diced
2 bay leaves
1 cup apple or pear cider
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Apple salad
1 crisp red apple, julienned
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

METHOD

Remove the skin and bones from the fish and pull the flesh into large pieces. Set half of the fish aside for garnish.

Place the remaining fish in a saucepan with the milk and bring to just below the boil. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan and add the onion, leek, garlic, potatoes, celeriac and the bay leaves. Season generously, cover and cook gently for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the vegetables catching on the base of the pan. Add the cider and let it bubble up for 2 minutes then add the stock and bring to the boil. Simmer, partially covered, for 20 minutes until the potatoes and celeriac are tender. Gently crush the soup to lightly thicken, but still leaving it a little chunky. Add the milk and smoked fish and bring the soup back to the boil. Season.

Salad: Combine the ingredients in a small bowl and season.

To serve: Divide the soup between bowls. Top with the reserved smoked fish, a small pile of apple salad and a grind of black pepper.