Preparation :
Cut the fins off the fish and scrape off the scales. Remove the gills and the gut. Wash the fish thorougly under running water. Grate the onion. Chop the parsley. Scrape and grate the carrots. Cut the peeled celeriac and potatoes into small pieces. Wash the rice.

Put the fish in a wide saucepan, put the grated onion and chopped parsley on top of it, and add salt as desired. Pour the water into the saucepan and place it over a moderate heat. Boil the fish until it becomes tender. Take fish out of the saucepan with a skimmer and put aside. Put the carrots and potatoes into the saucepan. Add the rice to the saucepan and let it boil until the soup becomes somewhat jelly-like. In the meantime take the skin and bones off the cooked fish and cut the fish into big pieces. When the vegetables and rice are thorougly cooked, strain them and put them in a seperate saucepan. Heat the saucepan containing the soup and add salt if necessary. When the jelly-like soup begins to boil, put the fish into the saucepan and let it simmer for 5 minutes.

Just before removing saucepan from heat, whip the lemon juice and eggs in a bowl. Take spoonfuls of the soup and add it to this sauce while stirring constantly. When the bowl is full, pour it back into the saucepan while stirring the soup. Remove saucepan from heat, pour it into a serving bowl, add some black pepper according to taste and serve.

Another way of cooking fish soup: Dice the vegetables into pieces of about 1/2 cm., grate two peeled and cleaned tomatoes, chop some celery and boil them all with the fish. So that the fish and the vegetables will not be broken into pieces, this should not be strained.

If you would prefer a more original and personal recipe, you can prepare one of your own by adding shrimps, mussels, mushrooms, different herbs and spices as desired. M