Cod Soup from County Cork

This cod soup, inspired by the Good Things Café of West County Cork, Ireland, combines Provençal-style flavors with Irish regional ingredients, especially cod. 

Ireland, surrounded by ocean all around, is a seafood rich country, and soups containing fish and shellfish is common along the coasts. 

While cod is more known for the "fish" in fish and chips, it also shows up in this delicious soup. 

Having visited Ireland a couple of times, we came to appreciate the differences of the various counties. For example, the folks of Kerry had plenty of jibes to give to the folks of Cork, and the folks of Cork claimed they could not understand a word uttered by the folks of Kerry. 

Kinsale, from County Cork: 

Both trips were amazing. 

This soup is super comforting, nutritious, and can easily be used as a main dish with a salad and a loaf of your favorite bread. 

It turned out to be so surprisingly delicious and one of my favorite seafood dishes. 

If You Are a Fan of Seafood Soups, You May Also Enjoy:

Scandanavian-Style Fish and Potato Soup

Creamy Crab Soup

Portuguese Fish Stew

Smoked Salmon Bisque

Fresh Corn Soup with Seared Scallops

Ingredients:

Olive oil, minced onion, celery, and garlic, for the base. 

Cucumber, parsley, thyme, dill, and saffron threads. 

Canned diced Italian-style tomatoes and white wine. 

Fish stock: I used some shrimp stock I had in my freezer from boiling shrimp shells that I had saved up. The stock is amazing. If you don't have any homemade fish stock, Better Than Bouillon Lobster Base is fabulous. So is the Custom Culinary Shrimp Base. 

Lemon juice and salt and pepper. 

Cod fillets. While I used all cod, you can substitute some halibut, hake, haddock, or rockfish. 

How to Make this Cod Soup:

This soup is super easy to put together. 

First, in a large pot, heat the oil. Add the onion and celery and cook until the ingredients have softened and begin to brown. 

Next, add the garlic, cucumber, herbs, saffron, tomatoes, and wine, and cook for about 5 minutes. 

After that, add the fish stock and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer everything for about 20 minutes. 

Finally, bring the mixture back to a boil, remove it from the heat, and stir in the fish. The fish will cook through off heat. 

Serving Suggestions:

I served this soup with a sprinkling of Irish cheddar cheese and a few buttery croutons. 

Irish-Inspired Fish Recipes: 

Welcome to this month's Fish Friday Foodies. Our theme this month is fish dishes from Ireland. 

Thank you Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for creating this group and inspiring all of us. 

Here are everyone's Irish fish recipes:

• Food Lust People Love serves up Ballymaloe Potted Shrimp
• Sid’s Sea Palm Cooking shares Boxty with Smoked Salmon 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories made Cod Soup 
• Sneha’s Recipe has  Dublin Lawyer (Shrimp in Irish Whiskey Cream Sauce)
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice cooked up Fish & Potato Chowder with Irish Whiskey 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm is serving Irish Fish Cakes

  

Cod Soup from Ireland

Yield: 6 servings

Author: Karen's Kitchen Stories

Prep time: 30 MinCook time: 35 MinTotal time: 1 H & 5 M

This cod soup, inspired by the Good Things Café of West County Cork, Ireland, combines Provençal-style flavors with Irish regional ingredients, especially cod.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 yellow or white onion, minced
• 1 celery stalk, minced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 of a medium cucumber, chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
• Handful of parsley leaves, chopped
• 2 large sprigs of thyme
• 3 sprigs of dill weed
• 1/2 teaspoon of saffron threads, crushed
• 14 ounce can of chopped tomatoes with their juices
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 cups fish/shrimp stock
• Juice of 1/2 medium lemon
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 pounds cod filets, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• Grated Irish cheddar and croutons for serving

Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil over medium low heat in a 4 to 6 quart sauce pan. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, until the onions and celery are softened and lightly browned.
2. Add the garlic, cucumber, parsley, thyme, dill, saffron, tomatoes (along with their juices), and the white wine. Stir everything together and bring to a simmer. Cook for five minutes.
3. Add the fish stock and lemon juice. Salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to low and cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
4. Bring the mixture back to a boil and add the fish. Remove from the heat, stir, and let the fish cook off heat. Remove the thyme and dill sprigs.
5. Serve with the cheddar and croutons.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

264.84

Fat (grams)

12.24 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

2.5 g

Carbs (grams)

8.94 g

Fiber (grams)

1.86 g

Net carbs

7.11 g

Sugar (grams)

4.5 g

Protein (grams)

24.56 g

Sodium (milligrams)

476.3 mg

Cholesterol (grams)

53.76 mg

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2023/03/cod-soup-from-county-cork.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

Cod, seafood

Soup

Irish

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Recipe adapted from the cookbook, The Country Cooking of Ireland. It's a very comprehensive and amazing cookbook.