I LOVE living here in Sayulita! There are always trucks driving by offering fresh vegetables, fruits, shrimp, fish, tamales, etc. Yesterday I heard a truck selling fresh fish, and I just had to see what I could make with it for dinner. A beautiful, fresh fish caught that morning was waiting to be made into a wonderful fish soup. I had the fish descaled by the seller, and for just $80 pesos, I had the base for my fish soup dinner! I had never made a fish soup before, but thought it would be fun to try. I decided to roast the fish in a foil packet to get as much flavor out of it as possible. You will love this recipe!

INGREDIENTS:

-1 fresh, whole fish (*Please always check the fish for bright / shiny eyes to be sure that it is very fresh. The size will depend on how many people you will be serving. I wanted to make 2 generous servings, so I chose one of the smaller fish. I was so excited to get into my kitchen to see what I could create!)

-1 small lemon cut into 5 very thin slices

-1 Tablespoon butter; cut into small chunks

-A few sprigs of fresh herbs (*I grow my own fresh herbs, so I gathered a few sprigs of lemon-thyme, parsley, fennel fronds, and dill-weed. If you don’t have fresh herbs you can use approximately a teaspoon of Italian seasoning.)

-½ cup of dry white wine (*I always choose a wine that I like to drink, so a nice Pinot Grigio was my choice.)

-Broccoli florets, 1 bunch

-Salt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION: 

1. Preheat heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Prepare a sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil; it should be large enough to be able to enclose the fish in a nicely sealed packet. Place the foil on a large baking sheet.
3. Make sure that the cavity of the fish is very clean, then layer in butter, the gathered herbs, & slices of lemon. After you close up the fish, put a few slices of lemon on top.
4. Bring up the top pieces of the foil and fold over 2 or 3 times to ensure a good seal. Be sure to leave an air space. 
5. Fold up one end 2 or 3 times to ensure a good seal.
6. Pour wine through the open end, and then seal up this final end 2 or 3 times to ensure a good seal.
7. Roast about 20-30 minutes depending on the size of your fish.
8. Open the top a bit so that you can check to see if the fish is done. Be VERY careful when opening, as a lot of hot steam will pour out. Unless you want a fishy facial, this is very important!
9. Pour out all the juices into a cooking pot. This will now be the liquid base for your soup.
10. When the fish has cooled, skin it, remove the bone, and add the fish chunks to the liquid base in the pot. If you want a rich soup broth, add salt and pepper to taste, and then enjoy. At this point you will have more of a fish stew than a soup.

I chose to sauté some nice broccoli florets, making sure that they still had some crunch. I then added them to the stew. I thinned out the liquid with more white wine and a bit of coconut milk. I added salt and pepper to taste, and then dug in. This was one of the best soups that I had ever tasted, and it was so very simple to make.

When my husband loves something that I have made, he will say his favorite expression, “ I don’t ever want this to end!” Well, I truly understood his expression because I never wanted it to end either! You must try this soup when the fish truck comes by, or you can go to any of our local Pescaderias or the Mercado del Mar in La Cruz and buy the perfect fish from a fishmonger. I promise you that you will love it as much as I did. 

If you have any questions or comments please contact me at my Sayulita Life web page; I love to hear from you!

Written by: Karina Shecter