Light Saffron Fish Soup

Aromatic, light and fresh

Ingredients:

-1 lb. fileted hake, cod, haddock, lingcod other white, flaky ocean fish
-2 med small ripe tomato, plunged in boiling water, peeled and finely minced keeping all the juice, or 2/3 cup of
canned, diced tomatoes.
-6 cloves sliced garlic
-olive oil
-8 oz. clam juice
-3 med. potatoes, peeled and diced
-2 med. carrots peeled and chopped into 4" lengths.
-1/2 onion
-2 celery stalks chopped in half
-small knot of parsley
-1/2 cup bone dry artisan cider or white wine
-scant teaspoon saffron threads lightly crushed with the side of a chopping knife.
-5 small bay leaves
-salt
-black pepper

Preparation:

Parboil potatoes in a pot, drain and reserve. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a larger soup pot with 1/2 tsp of salt. Add rinsed fish filet, reduce heat to medium and poach filet for 5 min. Remove, drain, reserve fish. Add carrots, parsley knot, celery, onion chunk and bay leaves and simmer covered for 20 min. Remove vegetables with a slotted spoon setting celery and carrots aside. Strain onion and parsley over the pot, pressing them against the bottom of a wire strainer with the backside of a tablespoon to squeeze out as much liquid as possible, then discard them. Chop the cooked carrots and celery.
Add oil and garlic to a sautée pan, set burner to temp. to medium, infuse oil, removing and preserving garlic when it is becoming translucent before it starts to brown. Add cider or wine and let the alcohol evaporate then add tomato, carrots, celery, minced parsley clam juice and black pepper and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring as needed to prevent burning. Then add as much of the fish stock as needed to yield a light, translucent but richly flavored soup base. Reduce heat, add saffron and simmer covered for 20 minutes. Add fish breaking it into chunks, stir and simmer covered for 10 more minutes. Serve with crusty baguette for dunking.