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Serves 8

1 kg (2 lb) coley fillet, cubed

1 kg (2 lb) fish bones, heads, etc.

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 large leek, trimmed, sliced

2 medium-sized bay leaves

salt, pepper

1 teaspoon sugar

white wine vinegar

2 medium carrots, cut in julienne strips

white part of 2 leeks, cut in julienne strips

1 tablespoon plain flour

2 tablespoons butter

3 egg yolks

150 ml (5 fl oz) each double and soured cream

chopped chives

FISH BALLS

250 g (8 oz) haddock fillet, skinned

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons plain flour

2 teaspoons cornflour or cornstarch

2 tablespoons soft butter

pepper, nutmeg

225 ml (7½ fl oz) cold boiled milk

4 tablespoons cold boiled cream

Make a stock by simmering the first five ingredients together in plenty of water to cover. Give them 45 minutes, then strain off the stock into a clean pan. Season with salt, pepper and sugar. Liven the flavour with a teaspoon of vinegar, taste and then add a splash or two more but do not overdo it. Pour off enough of the stock into a shallow pan to make a 2-cm (¾-inch) depth for poaching the fish balls, which can be made while the stock simmers.

Reduce the haddock, from the fish ball ingredients, and the salt to a fluffy purée in a blender or processor, and add the rest of the ingredients in turn, one by one. Chill the mixture, if this is convenient, while you get on with the soup.

To the large pan of stock, which should be at simmering point, add the carrot shreds. Give them a minute’s cooking, then put in the leek. Mash the flour into the butter and add it to the pan in little bits, keeping the soup below simmering point from now on. Beat the egg yolk and creams, whisk in a ladleful of soup and pour back into the pan. Stir for 5 minutes and taste again for seasoning. Put in the chives. Keep warm without further cooking.

To poach the fish balls, heat the shallow pan of stock to simmering point. Form little balls, quite tiny ones, with two teaspoons, slipping them into the stock. After 2 minutes, taste one. If it feels light and soft, without any hint of flour, the fish balls are done. You may well not need all the mixture, which can be kept for another occasion (it is tricky making a smaller quantity).

Place the fish balls in the soup, and add their stock to the pan as well. The final result is a creamy white soup, with streaks of colour from the carrot and leek, beautiful and delicate, not insipid.

COD WITH MUSHROOMS

The important thing is to cook the mushrooms and cod together so that the flavours intermingle. A surprisingly good dish. Aim to keep the mushrooms in a light juice, rather than a lot of liquid.

Serves 6

6 × 175–250 g (6–8 oz) cod steaks

salt, pepper, nutmeg

6 slices of crustless bread cut to the size and shape of the cod

125 g (4 oz) clarified butter

seasoned flour

375 g (12 oz) mushrooms, caps sliced, stalks chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed, skinned, chopped

1–2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Put the steaks on a dish and season them, then set aside while you fry the bread until brown and crisp on one side only, in half the butter. Place the bread, cooked side down, on a hot dish and keep warm.

Dry the fish, turn it in the flour and fry it in the remaining butter. Add the mushrooms and garlic when you turn the cod. Remove the cod when done, putting it on top of the bread. Give the mushrooms a little longer if necessary, and season them. Put them round the cod, sprinkle a little parsley on top of the fish and serve.

NOTE Instead of slices of bread, you could fry small bread dice or coarse breadcrumbs and scatter them over the dish before serving. A crisp contrast makes a dish of this kind much livelier.

FISKEPUDDING (Fish pudding)

If you visit a Stockholm market, you may well see on the fish stalls a regimentation of what looks like collapsed kugelhupf cakes. A sad and weak-kneed