Brined Fish (in Occitan, the Aïgo-Saou).

version française : cliquez ici

 

A recipe from the book "Memories of the Life and Cooking of Agathoise Women" by Madeleine Cornal, as dictated to her son Michel Adgé.

 

 

Brined Fish is a common dish of Agathois fishermen, which they even cooked on their boats while out fishing.
Take the fish you have on hand on the boat, essentially mackerel on the boat, and whitings and cabotes in town, and then scale them as necessary, gut them, remove the gills and wash them.
Put about two liters of water in a large casserole, depending on the amount of fish you have. Add some salt, an onion, some peeled potatoes, one or two peeled cloves of garlic and a bay leaf. Boil this until the onion and the potatoes are cooked.

Then add the fish, starting with the ones with the firmest flesh (the cabotes) and ending with the fish that cooks the most quickly (the whiting and the mackerel).
Once the fish are cooked, mix them with the vegetables and add a dash of olive oil and vinegar.
Reserve the remaining broth and with it, and depending on the fish, you you can make a good soup by adding pasta.
This recipe can be improved. In the evening, lightly sauté a small onion, a clove of garlic (minced) and a fresh tomato. Once these ingredients have been well-simmered, add the fish broth and let it boil. You can then add pasta or spaghetti or serve it on toasted garlic-rubbed croutons.
Whichever recipe you use, you'll have a very good soup that costs almost nothing.

Jean-Marc Roger/Janet L. Clark