What Baba Cooked

There’s soup and then there’s the traditional Dalmatian fish soup. This humble coastal soup is made the old-fashioned way, using fish heads and bones to create a rich, flavourful broth. Simple ingredients, gentle simmering, and a handful of rice bring home a restorative and comforting taste of Dalmatia.

What You Need

• 2 kg fish heads and bones (from white fish such as snapper, bream, whiting or similar)
• Two fillets of white fish, sea bass is best, otherwise snapper is good
• 2 carrots, roughly chopped
• 1 onion, quartered
• A few celery stalks, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 2 litres water
• 2 bay leaves
• A few peppercorns
• Salt, to taste
• ½ cup cooked rice
• A handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped

What To Do

1. Place the fish heads and bones in a large pot with the carrots, onion, celery, garlic, olive oil, bay leaves, peppercorns and water.
2. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 2–3 hours. Skim off any foam that rises to the surface.
3. Strain the broth through a fine sieve, pressing gently on the vegetables and fish to extract as much flavour as possible. Discard the solids.
4. Return the clear broth to the pot and season with salt to taste. I like to add some mashed carrot back to the soup, this is optional though.
5. Cut the fish fillets into small spoon-sized pieces and add to the broth along with the cooked rice, simmer for ten to fifteen minutes to heat it all through and cook the fish. Don’t cook the rice in the soup as it will spoil the light clarity of the broth with its starchiness. You can leave some extra rice on the side if anyone would like to add more, you don’t need a lot though.
6. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle generously with fresh parsley before serving.

Dobar tek.