Fish Solyanka
6 servings
70 minutes
In the original Russian fish solyanka, several types of fish were always used, at least two. As a rule, one of the types was fatty, and the others were leaner. Olives, capers and lemon slices began to be added to solyanka at the end of the 18th century, and at about the same time, it became customary to pre-sauté onions and pickles. A little later, they began to add tomatoes - but that's a completely different story.
1
Prepare fresh fish with a sharp knife: cut off the heads and tails, remove neat fillets from the bones and set aside. Place the tails, bones, and heads of the fresh fish in a deep five-liter pot and fill with three liters of water.
- Sea perch (redfish): 500 g
- Perch: 1 piece
- Pickle brine: 1 glass
2
Bring the water to a boil and cook the broth, carefully removing the foam from the surface. Then strain and transfer to a clean deep pot - and bring to a boil again.
3
Pour the cucumber brine into a small saucepan, bring to a boil, then strain through a fine sieve into the fish broth. Peel the pickles and chop them finely.
- Pickled cucumbers: 3 pieces
4
In a small pan, sauté two chopped onions in oil until soft, season with salt and pepper, and add to the pot with broth. Then add the chopped pickles.
- Onion: 2 heads
- Vegetable oil: 2 tablespoons
- Salt: to taste
- Ground black pepper: to taste
5
Cut the flesh of fresh fish, removed from bones and cleaned of bones, into small cubes. Also, remove the bones from the lightly salted salmon and cut it into cubes of the same size.
- Sea perch (redfish): 500 g
- Lightly salted salmon: 500 g
6
Add fresh fish with salmon to the boiling broth. Cook over medium heat, preventing the soup from boiling too vigorously, for thirty to forty minutes.
- Sea perch (redfish): 500 g
- Lightly salted salmon: 500 g
7
Add olives and pickled capers with their brine to the soup. Gently stir the soup, cook for another minute, and remove the pot from the heat. Slice the lemon into thin round wedges.
- Green olives: 1 jar
- Capers: 150 g
- Lemon: 1 piece
8
Pour the prepared fish solyanka into deep plates and garnish each serving with a slice of lemon. Serve immediately.
- Lemon: 1 piece