Wonderfull summerish dish with a very Meditaranian feel and and taste due to the Pastis / Anisseed Liquor in the soup. I guess it to some extent is a decontruct of typical Meditaranian Fish dishes, so no wonder.
1 kg very good tomatoes, othewise use good canned tomatoes every time!
1 small can double concentrated tomato paste
3 stalks Celery
½ a Garlic, get a Fresh one if possible. That would typically be like 8-12 Garlic gloves
1 small glass French Pastis, Turkish Raki or equivalent Anisseed Liquor
1 good sized bundle of fresh Thyme, Discard though woody stalks
½ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
Cayenne pepper
½ a liter of water
2 tbsp Sugar. This can vary depending on quality of tomatoes.
Fresh boneless Fish, White fish is good
1 Egg
Breadcrumb
Salt & Pepper
1 cup Olive Oil for Frying
Cleanse and roughly cur Celery Stalks, With the flat side of a cooking knife gently press Garlic Gloves so that they are easy to peel, Rinse Thyme and remove woody stalks.
In a food processor make a fine pase from the Celery, Garlic, Thyme and Olive Oil. Pour this paste into a non stick pot and let the paste and gently cook for 5 minutes, actually some of the oil will come out and it will gently fry.
Add the Anisseed Liqour, Tomatoes, Tomato concentrate and water. Pour the whole thing back into the Food processer and give it another bashing until its a fairly smooth soup. Return the soup to the pot and taste with Salt, Pepper, Smoked Paprika and Cayenn, Let it simmer while you prepare the fish.
Cut fish into fishfinger like chunks and doublecheck that it is boneless. Whip an egg in a plate and pour breadcrumbs into another. Season Fish with salt and pepper, dip the fishfingers into the egg and then into the breadcrumbs. Only once, this isent Fish and Chips your preparing.
Warm the olive oil in a pan and add the fish and fry until light golden and fish is done. Again the cooking of the fish is more important than this looking like the dead haddock in a newspaper around the corner.
Pour the Soup and add a Fishfinger. Sprinkle with fresh Herbs if you got any, Parsley, Cervil or even Tarragon works great.
Enjoy!
