Bourride
5
Points®
Total time: 44 min • Prep: 14 min • Cook: 30 min • Serves: 4 • Difficulty: Easy
Once thought of as peasants’ fare, this French fish-and-bread soup appears in many fine restaurants around the world today. It is usually thickened with egg yolks and seasoned with aïoli, but we simplify by using a delicious combination of mayonnaise and garlic. Fresh spinach, stirred in towards the end of the cooking time, rounds out the soup, making it a complete meal. Up the flavor ante of the aïoli by adding a bit of finely grated lemon zest and a pinch of saffron threads rubbed between your finger and thumb for even more authentic Mediterranean flavor.
Ingredients
Reduced calorie mayonnaise
2 Tbsp
Garlic
2 clove(s), minced
French bread
5 oz, cut into 16 rounds
Olive oil
1 tsp
Onion
1 medium, halved lengthwise, then thinly sliced crosswise
Vegetable broth
3 cup(s), fish broth, or bottled clam juice
White wine
¼ cup(s), dry
Lemon
⅛ item(s), large, (1 thick slice)
Fresh parsley
1 oz, fresh flat-leaf, (1 large sprig)
Fresh thyme
1 oz, fresh, (1 large sprig)
Spinach
6 oz, baby leaves
Uncooked halibut fillet
1 pound(s), cod, or flounder fillets, cut into 1-inch pieces
Fresh thyme
1 tsp, fresh, chopped or 1⁄4 teaspoon dried
Instructions
1
Combine the mayonnaise and half of the minced garlic in a small bowl; cover and refrigerate until the flavors blend, at least 15 minutes or up to 2 hours.
2
Preheat the broiler. Place the bread rounds on a baking sheet; spray lightly with olive-oil nonstick spray. Spread the remaining garlic on top of the rounds. Broil 5 inches away from the heat until golden and fragrant, 2–3 minutes.
3
Heat the oil in a large nonstick saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, 7–10 minutes. Add the broth, wine, lemon, parsley sprig, and thyme sprig; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the flavors blend, about 10 minutes. Discard the lemon, parsley, and thyme.
4
Stir the spinach into the broth mixture and simmer, covered, until the spinach just begins to wilt, about 1 minute. Stir about 1⁄2 cup of the hot broth into the mayonnaise mixture; whisk until smooth. Return the mayonnaise mixture to the saucepan, stirring constantly until blended. Add the fish and simmer, covered, until the fish is just opaque, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chopped thyme.
5
Place 4 garlic toasts in the bottom of each of 4 soup bowls. Pour about 1 1⁄4 cups of the soup over the toasts in each bowl. Yields 1 bowl per serving.
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