Pour in the cream and mix in gently вЂ“ you donвЂ™t want the salmon to break up They should be soft enough to crush between your finger and thumb вЂ“it will take a good 20 minutes. Let them cook over a low to moderate heat, partially covered with a lid. Melt the butter in a deep, heavy-based pan and add the chopped onion and leek. Shred and thoroughly rinse the leek in cold running water (grit can get trapped between the layers).

I sometimes add broccoli to this recipe, the brassica sliced into florets, its delicious stalks into thick coins, dropped into the soup for 5 minutes before serving. You donвЂ™t have to peel them, but I like to, so their flesh can easily be crushed into the soup with your fork. Steamed potatoes is a splendid way to go. You will need something to soak up the creamy juices. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin/The Observer вЂYou will need something to soak up the creamy juicesвЂ™: salmon soup. Ladle into warm bowls and serve with a bowl of soured cream. Correct the seasoning with salt and pepper, and if you wish a little of the liquid from the gherkin jar.

Stir in the gherkin, olives, parsley and dill. Lower the fish steaks into the broth and continue cooking for 5-7 minutes or until the fish parts easily from the bone.

Slice the gherkins and olives, chop the parsley and dill leaves and set aside. Turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, adding salt and pepper. Finely slice the fennel and mushrooms and add them to the pan, continue to cook for a few minutes, until the fennel has started to soften. Roughly chop the tomatoes, add to the onions and cook for 10-15 minutes, until they are soft. Peel the garlic, slice thinly and stir into the onions. Using a deep, heavy-based pan over a moderate heat, let them soften in a little oil, taking care they do not go beyond pale gold in colour. A piece of hake, haddock or cod cut through the bone will be perfect. Much will depend on what you get that is sustainable and reasonably priced. A firm white fish is what you need, preferably on the bone. I sometimes leave a small jug of it on the table so everyone can help themselves. You can increase the sweet-sourness by adding some the juice from the pickle jar. There is a delightful piquancy to this soup. There was bread, too, cut thick, both to eat with cheese and to wipe our soup bowls clean. There is a habit in our house to follow such autumn lunches with cheese, and that was the case this week, with some dusky-skinned muscat grapes, a crisp pear and a wedge of Caerphilly. Use the waxy variety, cut into small dice and added with the fennel, or, as I sometimes serve it with a mound of floury, white-fleshed potatoes to mash into the apricot-coloured depths. You could make the fish go a little further with a few diced potatoes. That soup was the first of two: the second, a cream of salmon recipe with tiny droplets of oil dancing on its surface and teasing aniseed notes from needles of chopped dill вЂ“ soup similar to the market-hall versions I have in Finland. (It works admirably with water or vegetable stock if you have no bones with which to make fish stock.)ДЄ simple broth of stock and vegetables, white or oily fish and a handful of herbs can be ready in half an hour I made a hake and fennel soup this week вЂ“ a one-pan job вЂ“ a substantial, filling bowl despite its broth-like consistency. A simple broth of stock and vegetables, white or oily fish and a handful of herbs can be ready in half an hour. It is something I might do twice a year, on a wet Saturday.Д«ut fish soup can be a quick supper, too.

A dayвЂ™s work, a kitchen in turmoil вЂ“ oh the washing-up вЂ“ but your trouble is rewarded with a cauldron of piscine, rust-coloured gorgeousness. Simmering the bones with water, onion and bay steaming mussels and clams and winkling the flesh from its shell crushing crab shells with a mallet and pounding egg yolks, garlic and oil to make a sunny accompanying aioli. Y ou can spend hours making a pot of fish soup.

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