Before rice became a common grain in Greece, village cooks on Ikaria relied on wheat in all its manifestations to make soup more filling: bulgur or cracked wheat; trahana, an ancient, granular fermented grain product made from either bulgur, cracked wheat, or flour and whole goat’s milk, buttermilk, or yogurt; and sometimes the local ribbon-shaped pasta called matsi. Today, all over Greece, fish soup is almost universally enriched with rice.
Ingredients
- 1½ cups Greek extra virgin olive oil
- 2 medium red onions, finely chopped (about 2 cups)
- 2 large boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch (2 cm) cubes
- 2 small zucchini, cut into 2-inch (5 cm) rounds
- 1 large firm-ripe tomato, peeled, seeded, and chopped
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3 large lemons juice, strained
- 5 cups water
- 3 pounds fresh whole soup fish (a combination of sea bass, red snapper, scorpion fish, rockfish, grouper, bream, and/or red mullet), dressed
- ⅔ cup sweet or sour trahana, store-bought or homemade
How to Make It
- In a large heavy pot, heat ½ cup olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions, cover, and reduce the heat to very low. Steam the onions in the oil until wilted and soft, about 15 minutes. Add the potatoes, zucchini, and tomato. Season with salt. Add one-third of the lemon juice and 1 cup of the water. Cover, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and continue cooking for about 10 minutes.
- Place the fish in the pot in order of size, with the larger ones on the bottom and building upward so that a mullet or any other small fish are on top. Season each layer with salt and pepper as you go. (You can also place the fish in a clean cheesecloth, tied loosely, to prevent bones from breaking into the soup.) Add enough water to the pot to cover the fish by about 1 inch (2.5 cm). Cover the pot and cook the soup until the fish is fork-tender and the potatoes done, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the fish and vegetables from the pot with a slotted spoon and place on a serving platter.
- Bring the broth back to a boil, replenishing with the remaining 4 cups water. Add the trahana and simmer until tender, about 12 minutes. Season the soup with ½ cup olive oil and half of the lemon juice.
- Whisk the remaining ½ cup olive oil together with the remaining lemon juice until the mixture emulsifies. Serve this as a sauce for the fish.
- Serve the broth and fish and vegetables separately.
