Gazpachuelo malagueño
The fishermen's soup of Málaga, whose name suggests gazpacho though it has nothing in common with it — a hot fish soup with potatoes, thickened with homemade mayonnaise. It sounds strange, but mayonnaise is an emulsion of yolks and oil, so it works like a French egg-yolk liaison. The whole difficulty is tempering: hot broth goes into the mayonnaise a spoon at a time, whisking hard — poured in all at once, it scrambles the yolks.
Your own work in that: 15 min.
- Broth with potatoes 35 min
- Mayonnaise 10 min
- Tempering 5 min
- Fish and prawns 5 min
Step by step
0 / 8 donePeel the prawns and make a shell stock
Peel the prawns, then cover the shells and heads with water, the onion and bay and simmer 15 minutes. Strain. A quick stock that gives the soup a taste of the sea without an hour of simmering bones.
Ingredients: 200 g prawns · 400 g white fish · 500 g potatoes · 1 pcs onion · 1 pcs bay leaf · 1200 ml water · 1½ tsp salt
Prawn shells give a stock in a quarter hour.Cook the potatoes in the stock
Add potatoes snapped into pieces to the strained stock, add the salt and cook 15 minutes until tender. Snapped, not cut — ragged edges release starch that lightly thickens the soup.
Ingredients: 200 g prawns · 400 g white fish · 500 g potatoes · 1 pcs onion · 1 pcs bay leaf · 1200 ml water · 1½ tsp salt
Whisk a thick mayonnaise by hand
In a large bowl whisk the yolks with a pinch of salt and a spoon of lemon juice, then pour in both oils in a thin stream until thick. Add the crushed garlic. Use a large bowl, since all the broth will go into it.
Ingredients: 2 pcs egg yolks · 100 ml olive oil · 100 ml neutral oil · ½ pcs lemon · 1 clove garlic
A large bowl — all the broth is about to go in.Cook the fish and prawns
Add the fish, cut in pieces, and the prawns to the potato broth and cook 4 minutes over low heat, until the fish sets. Take the pot off the heat — from now on the soup must not boil.
Ingredients: 200 g prawns · 400 g white fish · 500 g potatoes · 1 pcs onion · 1 pcs bay leaf · 1200 ml water · 1½ tsp salt
Temper the mayonnaise a spoon at a time
Add hot broth to the mayonnaise one spoonful at a time, whisking hard after each. After several spoons, add it by the ladle, still whisking. Poured in at once it curdles the yolks into scrambled egg.
Ingredients: 2 pcs egg yolks · 100 ml olive oil · 100 ml neutral oil · ½ pcs lemon · 1 clove garlic
A spoon at a time, whisking — then by the ladle.Pour the cream back into the pot
Once half the broth is in the mayonnaise, pour it all back into the pot with the fish and potatoes, stirring gently. The soup turns milky white and thickens to thin cream.
Ingredients: 200 g prawns · 400 g white fish · 500 g potatoes · 1 pcs onion · 1 pcs bay leaf · 1200 ml water · 1½ tsp salt
Do not boil again
Warm over very low heat, stirring, until hot but never boiling. Boiled, the emulsion splits and the soup turns greasy and lumpy. Season with sherry vinegar, the rest of the lemon juice and salt.
Ingredients: 200 g prawns · 400 g white fish · 500 g potatoes · 1 pcs onion · 1 pcs bay leaf · 1200 ml water · 1½ tsp salt
Scatter with parsley and serve
Ladle into bowls with the fish, prawns and potato and scatter with parsley. In Málaga gazpachuelo is eaten on winter evenings — a warming soup, though its name suggests summer.
Ingredients: 3 tbsp parsley · 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
Before you start
Homemade mayonnaise, not from a jar
Jarred mayonnaise is sharper (vinegar, mustard) with a stronger flavour that masks the fish. Homemade yolk mayonnaise takes five minutes and gives a gentler, silkier soup.
Rescuing a split soup
If the soup splits, take it off the heat and blitz it quickly with a stick blender, or whisk a fresh yolk in a separate bowl and add the soup to it a spoonful at a time, as when tempering. The emulsion usually returns. Prevent it by keeping the soup always below a boil.
Eat at once
Gazpachuelo does not keep or reheat — the emulsion breaks. The potato broth can be made ahead; do the mayonnaise and combining just before serving.
