A tureen of soup, a crisp salad and a homey dessert is my favorite menu for lunch or dinner. My readers and students know how much I favor one-dish meals; one that tops my list is fresh, white-fleshed fish bathed in a sweet-spicy soup, light yet substantial.
In the summer, tomatoes from the garden or farmers market are the star ingredient, but good canned tomatoes imported from Italy will do just fine. The tomato broth can be made two days ahead and the fish added when reheating the soup.
I like to serve a very simple salad of mixed greens as a preamble and a fruit cobbler or crisp as the finale. If you’re tired of chicken for Shabbat dinner, try this bouillabaisse instead. If tradition rules in your kitchen, you can substitute boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into cubes in place of the fish.
Bouillabaisse
Serves 6-8
3 Tbs. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 small fennel bulb, chopped
28-oz. can chopped tomatoes
2-oz. can anchovies, drained*
3 lbs. assorted white fish fillets, cut into chunks
1⁄2 tsp. dried thyme
1 bay leaf
5 cups water
1 cup garlic mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste
To make the soup, heat oil in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Cook onion and fennel until soft, about 6 minutes. Stir in anchovies and tomatoes and cook until anchovies are melted, about 5 minutes. Add fish, thyme, bay leaf and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.
Remove half the fish and about 2 cups liquid to food processor and purée. Stir in 1⁄2 cup garlic mayonnaise. Return fish purée to pot with remaining liquid and stir well to combine. Taste for salt and pepper. Spread remaining 1⁄2 cup garlic mayonnaise on toasts and float on soup, or pass bowl of garlic mayonnaise for stirring directly into soup. Serve hot.
*Note: Before saying “no” to anchovies, understand that they are the ingredient that makes this soup so tasty.
Green Salad
Serves 8
8 cups assorted lettuces, torn into bite-size pieces
6 red radishes, thinly sliced
Dressing
2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
2 Tbs. rice vinegar
1 Tbs. Dijon mustard
1⁄4 cup snipped chives
1⁄2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper
Combine lettuces and radishes in a large bowl. Make dressing by whisking ingredients together until well blended. Toss with salad.
Berry Crisp
Serves 8
4 cups mixed berries
1⁄4 cup brown sugar
3 Tbs. flour
1⁄2 tsp. cinnamon
Topping
1⁄2 cup flour
1⁄2 cup uncooked oatmeal
1⁄2 cup brown sugar
1⁄4 cup granulated sugar
1⁄2 cup butter
1⁄4 cup chopped walnuts
Mix berries, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in 9-inch square pan.
For topping, combine dry ingredients and cut butter into mixture. Sprinkle over berries and top with walnuts. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly and slightly browned.
Louise Fiszer is a Palo Alto cooking teacher, author and the co-author of “Jewish Holiday Feasts.” Her columns alternate with those of Faith Kramer. Questions and recipe ideas can be sent to j. or to [email protected].