Triple Ukha is fish broth within fish broth within fish broth, which makes triple fish soup.

“It’s delicious! You must tell me how you cook it”, say the happy eaters dipping their spoons into a hearty soup.  But once you start telling the recipe, the eaters get immediately and obviously bored – really, who needs the recipe unless you are planning to shop for ingredients? Eating fish soup or Ukha is much more fun than listening to the recipe.

But if you want to make a really good fish soup, you have to spare some time. The process may be time consuming, especially when your neighbor brings you freshly caught fish and you have to remove the gills and do the gutting.

Triple Ukha involves a three stage process.

First, boil fish heads, fins and tails with herbs, vegetable roots and spices, then strain the stock into another clean saucepan, putting aside boiled root veggies.

Second, boil fish with the bones in the strained stock for about 10-15 min, take the fish out, remove the bones and set aside to be incorporated into the fish soup later.

Third, boil previously made fish-balls in double fish stock,  remove them and put aside. Strain the broth.

And, finally, combine the pieces of root vegetables, boneless chunks of fish, fish-balls and cooked seafood, such as mussels, shrimp, scallops, lobster, into a deep soup bowl and add the broth.

The result is outstanding. It is one of the most delicious and satisfying soups. It is complete and does not require anything else, except for freshly chopped dill and scallions and a piece of sourdough.

So let’s put down the recipe:

You need 2 ½ pounds of mixed fish with heads and tails, after gutting, bouquet garni (Bay leaves, parsley, tarragon), 2 tbsp of white wine, 1parsley root, ½ root of rutabaga, 2 tbsp of olive oil, 1 large onion, 2 peeled carrots, 2 celery sticks, 2 garlic cloves, 6 black peppercorns and salt, dill and scallions for garnish.

You also need 1/2 lb of each cooked small scallops and shrimp (or lobster) and 1 lb of shelled mussels.

For fish-balls, in addition, you need 2 pounds of boneless, skinless fish fillet (haddock, trout), 1 onion, 1 egg, 2 tbsp of matzo meal, a pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper.

1 Cut the fish heads and tails, put them into a saucepan with water, bouquet garni, salt, pepper corns, onion head, carrots, rutabaga, celery, bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for one hour. Let it stand for 30 min. Strain the stock into another saucepan. Put aside root vegetables for further use.

2 Bring the strained stock to a boil, add wine and chunks of fish with the bones and boil for 20 min. Remove the fish from the broth, let it cool down and carefully remove the bones and set the boneless fish pieces aside. Strain the stock again.

3 Prepare fish-balls – it is optional, but you will be delighted to have fish-balls in your soup. If you decided to skip this part – go to step 4.

Grind fish fillet and onion. Add matzo meal, an egg, salt and pepper. Mix well and form fish balls. Boil them in fish broth for 10 min, remove from the broth and set aside. Pour the broth through a large strainer into a clean saucepan again.

4 Divide the fish, fish balls, chopped boiled root vegetables among deep soup plates. Reheat the broth until it boils and add to the soup plates. Add cooked seafood of choice. Garnish with chopped scallions and dill. Add a teaspoon of sautéed garlic and a couple of olives into a soup plate.

Relax and enjoy eating – there are no bones in your fish soup.

To complete the pleasure, serve with a slice of sourdough and a shot of vodka or a glass of white wine.

P.S. All the food featured in this post has been prepared and photographed by me.