With the cooler weather upon us, you can’t go wrong with soup

Fish Soup with Egg and Lemon Broth

I just love this comforting soup, which is one of the first things I learned to cook when I was about 12 or 13 years old. The other fish soup I like and make on special occasions is Kakavia (Greek Bouillabaisse) which is an ancient Greek recipe and probably the original famous Bouillabaisse. Anyway, back to my fish soup, it’s simple to prepare, nourishing, delicious and popular all year round. Avgolemono is the classic taste of Greece. You don’t have to make the soup avgolemoni, it is still lovely without the eggs and lemon, I’ll leave this to you.

1.36kg (3lb) various white fish, large or slices or smaller ones, grey mullet, sea bass, snapper, carp, grouper, monkfish, cod, scorpion, swordfish(heads and lobster shells, make good stock)

1.5 litres water with one 100% chicken bouillon cube

1 vegetable cube, diluted in the hot water

4 tbsp olive oil

25g butter

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 carrots, peeled and cut in 2.5cm cubes

2 stalks celery, chopped like the carrots, including the leaves

1 medium courgette, cut like the carrots

2-3 medium waxy potatoes (that don’t break when cooked) peeled and cubed

2 ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

75g long grain rice, washed and drained

2 tbsp chopped parsley

2 sprigs fresh thyme or oregano, remove the stalks

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

For the Avgolemono broth

3 eggs

Juice 2 lemons or more

Lemon wedges for serving

Wash fish, season with salt and pepper and place in a large soup pot with the bay leaves, pour over the stock to completely cover the fish and simmer for approximately 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of the fish.

Carefully remove fish from the saucepan and place onto a large plate and allow to cool a little. Skin and debone and cut into small cubes, keep warm.

Strain the stock through a fine sieve into a large bowl and keep for later.

Heat the olive oil and butter in the saucepan and sauté the onions until transparent, then all the vegetables apart from the potatoes and gently cook for 5 minutes.

Pour in the sieved stock from the fish, season with salt, pepper and paprika, add the herbs and cook gently for 10 minutes. Mix in the potatoes and rice and cook for another 15 minutes, add fish, if the soup is too thick add more hot liquid.

For the Avgolemoni, in a bowl whisk the eggs until foamy (I use an electric whisk) and gradually add the lemon juice while continuing to whisk, take a ladle of the broth from the soup and slowly add to the egg and lemon whisking constantly, add another ladle, whisking as before and pour slowly back into the saucepan shaking the pan or stirring gently, return the pan on to a very low heat for a minute or two, do not allow it to come to the boil or the eggs will scramble.

Serve the soup in large bowls with crusty bread and lemon wedges

Cypriot Bread with Sesame-Seeds

My aromatic Cypriot Village Sesame Bread, with mastic gum and mehlepi is a delicious bread, easy to make, light, fluffy, crispy and it looks gorgeous too! When I make it, my kitchen is filled with the beautiful aromas of the exotic spices, it reminds me of how my Yiayia Vasilla’s house used to smell back in Avgorou, Cyprus when I was a young child.

Makes one round loaf

500g bread flour

4 tbsp fine semolina

½ tsp of ground mastic gum

½ tsp of ground mechlepi

A pinch of ground cinnamon

1.5 teaspoons of salt

1.5 tsp of sugar

1 x 7g sachet of instant fast action yeast

50ml of olive oil

300ml lukewarm water or more

4 tbsp of sesame seeds

1 tbsp nigella seeds

1 tbsp aniseed seeds

Put the flour, semolina, sugar, salt, yeast and olive oil and water in a large bowl and mix. Add the spices, mix until it comes together, then knead for 5 minutes. You could use an electric stand mixer with a dough hook.

Place in a bowl and cover with clingfilm or a tea towel, leave to prove for at 2 hours until doubled in size.

Tip the seeds into a cup and pour over a little boiling water. Drain them and spread on a tray lined with a clean tea towel.

Tip out the dough and shape it into a ball, and roll it in the sesame mixture, until covered with the seeds all over.

Place the dough on a round lined baking tray, cover with a tea towel and leave it to rise again for a further hour.

Preheat your oven to 190C. Place a small saucepan of warm water on the bottom of the oven (It adds steam during baking and enables a great rise in the oven, helping to develop a beautiful, crackly crust.) Using a small sharp knife, make a cut all the way around the middle of the ball and one or two cuts across the top.

Place on the middle shelf of the oven for about 35 minutes, turning the tray once or twice so the bread browns evenly, until golden and it sounds hollow when tapped on the underside.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool covered with a clean tea towel on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before cutting. The bread is delicious warm with some halloumi.

Loulla’s book My Kosmos My Kitchen can be ordered from www.amazon.com or www.austinmacauley.com/book/my-kosmos-my-kitchen. For more traditional Greek and Cypriot recipes and inspiration, join Loulla’s Facebook group Loulla’s Recipe Share