Velvety Fish Soup with Red Mullet

Velvety Fish Soup with Red Mullet For the chunky fish soup:

1) Heat 50ml of the olive oil in a large pan. Add the onion, garlic, fennel and carrot and gently cook for 10 minutes. Add the tomato puree, star anise, saffron and cayenne pepper and cook for 2 to 3 mins. Add the white wine and Pernod, bring to the boil.

Heat the rest of the olive oil in a frying pan. Season the chunks of fish and cook for 2 mins until caramelised.

Serve in bowls with a dollop of garlic mayonnaise in each and scattered with grated Gruyere cheese.

Variation: Try making this soup without the tomato juice. You'll be left with a delicious Mediterranean sauce for fish like sea bass or red mullet. It's also fantastic with scallops.

For the velvety fish soup:

1) Make the chunky fish soup. Place the soup in a blender and whiz until as smooth as possible. Sieve pressing all the bits with the back of a ladle to extract as much juice you can. Pour the soup into a clean pan, bring to a simmer and whisk in the creme fraiche 2) To serve, place two pieces of red mullet in the centre of each bowl. Ladle the soup around, sprinkle over the toasted almonds, snip pieces of basil or mizuna over the top and finish with a drizzle of olive oil.