Tilapia Soup

Years ago, I started making a Tilapia soup that the kids loved.  I haven't made it in a while and they've been asking when I'm going to start making it again so this was the week!  I tweaked the recipe a bit and they loved the new version even more than the old version so I feel the need to preserve the recipe ;)

First up, about three large cloves of chopped garlic.  Get pan nice and hot, add two tablespoons cold olive oil, add garlic and stir stir stir until cooked without browning.


Add one chopped onion--I used red but any kind will work!  Again, stir stir stir to cook without caramelizing.



 Next, add in chopped veg.  Three large carrots, three stalks of celery, two large golden potatoes.  Mr. Piper wants to try rice instead of potatoes next time--he remembers his mom making a fish soup with rice when he was a kid.  Next time, we'll try that variation just for him :)

Cook the veg while stirring for two to three minutes and then add one tablespoon flour.  Stir constantly--you want to flour to cook without burning and to be spread out evenly and not clump.  After two or so minutes, add in four cups of chicken broth.  Slowly, and again, stir constantly!  Once the flour is mixed in smoothly, you can stop stirring :)  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium.  Add in chopped mushrooms--I used an 8 ounce container of button but I've used several varieties of mushrooms and they all worked well.

Next comes the tilapia--I used five fillets and cut them into bite sized pieces.  I am not a fish person so tilapia and salmon are two of the very very few fish I eat.  The tilapia flavor isn't overwhelming and the fact that this soup uses chicken broth instead of a seafood based broth is probably why I like it--if the fish taste is too strong, I pass!

I add a little salt and pepper to taste and then bring to a boil again.  Reduce heat to low and then simmer for 30-45 minutes.  The time really depends on how big you cut up your veggies and fish.  I tend to do mine kind of small because my main customers are tiny people so I usually only need to cook it for about 30 minutes--I made the mistake in the past of cutting adult bite sized pieces and then had to go through and cut up the littlest kid's soup for them.  I consider the small pieces before I cook it a double bonus--shorter time to get on the table and I don't have to cut up soup LOL

 This time around we served the soup with Cheddar Biscuits like we were at Red Lobster (I totally cheated on those--my local Aldi had a Red Lobster biscuit mix for 1.49 and I used that)