out to sea..

Happiness is a word not easily defined. There is no universal identifier, no single, agreed-upon meaning, something along the lines of subjectivity and open interpretations. Me, I'm quite convinced otherwise.

hap·pi·ness 

 [hap-ee-nis] 

–noun1. A day spent by the sea.2. Good fortune; pleasure; contentment; joy.

They say I exaggerate.

My mum and I, decided to spend the day together last Tuesday. It's been a while, I'm not going to lie. The usual excuses; she's been difficult, I've been difficult, things've been difficult, et cetera, et cetera. The point is we did and man, was it glorious.

We got there quite late. Very late, in fact, the sun was all but gone when we arrived. It didn't matter, to be honest, the sun and sand has never been my favourite thing about the sea. I'm not being silly I swear. It's just that I prefer the wind and the water. Both were, as always, perfectly present that evening.

The next day, inspired by our trip, I decided to make fish soup. I also decided, since I didn't have any recipe for this particular dish, that I'm just going do this one by gut (pun intended).

Ok, that's not entirely true I just have to get that out. I watched an episode of Jamie Oliver's cooking show the other day. He was sitting in a small row boat trying to cook a soup not unlike this one. He used fresh fish which he had just "caught" right before taping and sea water. Yes, THAT sea water. Do you love it or do you love it?

Now I know some people doesn't share my love for mr. Oliver, but how could you not love a guy who makes the simplest dish worthy of rooftop shouting? Or has such passion for olive oil? Oh and did I mention, cooks with sea water?

Rockstar.

Anyways, I don't have a photographic memory, or a very good one at that, but this is soup we're talking about. The only thing you need for certain is your taste buds. Trust.

Mediterranean-style Fish Soup 

Tomato Fish Soup

inspired by Jamie Oliver

• 6 - 7 tomatoes
• 1 large onion, diced
• Whole fish, gutted and cleaned (You can use fillets but it won't taste as good, I promise. Alternatively, you can use only fish heads and make a fish head soup)
• Sea salt
• Olive Oil
• Lemon
• Black Pepper
• Dill & Parsley

Now, you're wondering why those ingredients list doesn't include exact measurements, that's because there is none. Just keep tasting the whole thing throughout and add the ingredients accordingly.

Firstly, remove the skin from the tomatoes, now there's a lot of ways to do this but I like to scar the tomatoes with a knife and roll them around in a pan of olive oil over medium heat. It's fast and flavours the oil in the process.

Diced the skinless tomatoes and throw them back onto the pan along with the onion. Make sure you use plenty of olive oil. Cook for a little while then put in the fish along with the herbs. Season well and mix.

To get maximum flavour, and to show off, I season with these. Call me a snob, but fleur de sel is definitely superior than your everyday kitchen salt, flavour-wise and health-wise. Plus they're completely affordable so there are literally no excuse not to convert to natural sea salt, people.

Kusamba Fleur de Sel

Where were we?

Ok, next just pour in some water and let the whole thing simmer for an hour or two. When it's done, taste and season some more. Spoon into a bowl and squeeze half a lemon over individual serving.

Soup simmering with parsley stalks.