Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Ukha (Fish Soup)

Recipe by John Skorepa, executive chef, Pomegranate Russian-Georgian Restaurant

I have a long and checkered career. After graduating from San Diego State with a BS in biology, I worked in the plumbing and mechanical business for 28 years. I built a lot of restaurants.

Because of my scientific background, I write everything down. At the end of the day — or the end of the dish, you might say — I try to analyze everything. I have one principle that I truly believe in: you have to allow yourself the privilege of failure. If at first something doesn’t work out, you owe it to yourself to figure out how and why it didn’t work. The stuff in cookbooks — people think it came to them by divine inspiration, all of a piece. But I doubt that. It’s just trial and error.

I’ve got all kinds of books on food, and I read cookbooks like most people read novels. I usually never cook what I read about, but you’d be surprised at what’s tucked into the corner of those recipes that’s going to help you out. Just reading the lists of ingredients... Take this one day I was reading a can of pie cherries. The list of ingredients had: “beets, for color.” I have some food chemistry books, so I looked up “beets.” It turns out that when you cook cherries, they turn brown. But beets turn red when you acidify them. Now, I use that principle to keep my borsht very, very red.

Do I cook when I’m not working? I’m always working. I come into the restaurant at eight in the morning and leave at ten at night. But I like to make ukha for recreation sometimes. I’m always exploring with food. I just fool. If I get a wild idea, then I try it. In some ways, cooking is like my plumbing and mechanical business. The fun wasn’t doing the work. It was designing the job.

INGREDIENTS

(serves about 6)

  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 3 medium fresh tomatoes, chopped
  • 3 small red potatoes, cut into
  • 1-inch chunks
  • 1 head of garlic
  • 3 carrots, peeled and julienned
  • 2–3 stalks celery, julienned
  • 1 parsnip — julienned
  • 1 leek, cut into large matchstick-size pieces
  • 1–2 tbsp. butter
  • 1/2 tbsp. Tukas hot pepper paste (no substitutes)
  • 2 large spoonfuls of Tukas tomato paste
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/2–1 gallon good fish stock (see recipe below)
  • 1 pound cleaned shrimp
  • 1 pound tilapia filets cut into 6-ounce pieces
  • 1/2 cup good white wine
  • 1/2 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped
  • 1/2 bunch dill, chopped
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • lemons, sliced for serving

HOW TO DO IT

Sponsored
Sponsored

Chop onions, tomatoes, and potatoes, and slice garlic into thin wafers. Cut carrots, celery, and parsnips into matchstick-size pieces or run through a mandalin. Cut the leeks into slightly larger pieces or run through a mandalin on a slightly courser blade. Melt butter in a heavy

7–8-quart pot. Add onions and sauté until carmelized and slightly brown. Add the carrots and parsnip and cook for 1–2 minutes and then add celery and leeks. Cook only until the celery and leeks are hot. Add the garlic and cook for a minute or less, being careful not to burn it. Add the Tukas pastes and bay leaf and tomatoes.

Add the fish stock and potatoes and simmer until the potatoes are cooked (when you pinch the potatoes and they start to break up, they are finished cooking). Add the fish and shrimp and watch carefully. The instant they are cooked, remove from the heat. Add the wine, chopped parsley, and dill. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with lemons, some really good bread, and some tomatoes, basil, garlic, and olive oil. Dip the bread in the soup and you’re in there.

Fish Stock

Makes 2 quarts

2 onions, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 stalks celery, with leaves, chopped

4 tablespoons olive oil

8–9 cups water

2 to 2 1/2 lbs of fish trimmings, heads, and bones, even shrimp shells

twist of lemon peel

1 bay leaf

2 cups white wine

salt and white pepper

Chop the vegetables. Add the olive oil to a large pot and sauté the vegetables over medium heat. When the vegetables are tender, add the water, fish trimmings, lemon peel, and bay leaf, and bring to a boil. Partially cover, and simmer over medium heat for 20–30 minutes. Add the wine and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 5 more minutes. Freeze for later use if you wish.

Chef’s note: You can purchase Tukas pastes at North Park Produce.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Reader 2024 Music & Arts Issue

Favorite fakers: Baby Bushka, Fleetwood Max, Electric Waste Band, Oceans, Geezer – plus upcoming tribute schedule

Recipe by John Skorepa, executive chef, Pomegranate Russian-Georgian Restaurant

I have a long and checkered career. After graduating from San Diego State with a BS in biology, I worked in the plumbing and mechanical business for 28 years. I built a lot of restaurants.

Because of my scientific background, I write everything down. At the end of the day — or the end of the dish, you might say — I try to analyze everything. I have one principle that I truly believe in: you have to allow yourself the privilege of failure. If at first something doesn’t work out, you owe it to yourself to figure out how and why it didn’t work. The stuff in cookbooks — people think it came to them by divine inspiration, all of a piece. But I doubt that. It’s just trial and error.

I’ve got all kinds of books on food, and I read cookbooks like most people read novels. I usually never cook what I read about, but you’d be surprised at what’s tucked into the corner of those recipes that’s going to help you out. Just reading the lists of ingredients... Take this one day I was reading a can of pie cherries. The list of ingredients had: “beets, for color.” I have some food chemistry books, so I looked up “beets.” It turns out that when you cook cherries, they turn brown. But beets turn red when you acidify them. Now, I use that principle to keep my borsht very, very red.

Do I cook when I’m not working? I’m always working. I come into the restaurant at eight in the morning and leave at ten at night. But I like to make ukha for recreation sometimes. I’m always exploring with food. I just fool. If I get a wild idea, then I try it. In some ways, cooking is like my plumbing and mechanical business. The fun wasn’t doing the work. It was designing the job.

INGREDIENTS

(serves about 6)

  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 3 medium fresh tomatoes, chopped
  • 3 small red potatoes, cut into
  • 1-inch chunks
  • 1 head of garlic
  • 3 carrots, peeled and julienned
  • 2–3 stalks celery, julienned
  • 1 parsnip — julienned
  • 1 leek, cut into large matchstick-size pieces
  • 1–2 tbsp. butter
  • 1/2 tbsp. Tukas hot pepper paste (no substitutes)
  • 2 large spoonfuls of Tukas tomato paste
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/2–1 gallon good fish stock (see recipe below)
  • 1 pound cleaned shrimp
  • 1 pound tilapia filets cut into 6-ounce pieces
  • 1/2 cup good white wine
  • 1/2 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped
  • 1/2 bunch dill, chopped
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • lemons, sliced for serving

HOW TO DO IT

Sponsored
Sponsored

Chop onions, tomatoes, and potatoes, and slice garlic into thin wafers. Cut carrots, celery, and parsnips into matchstick-size pieces or run through a mandalin. Cut the leeks into slightly larger pieces or run through a mandalin on a slightly courser blade. Melt butter in a heavy

7–8-quart pot. Add onions and sauté until carmelized and slightly brown. Add the carrots and parsnip and cook for 1–2 minutes and then add celery and leeks. Cook only until the celery and leeks are hot. Add the garlic and cook for a minute or less, being careful not to burn it. Add the Tukas pastes and bay leaf and tomatoes.

Add the fish stock and potatoes and simmer until the potatoes are cooked (when you pinch the potatoes and they start to break up, they are finished cooking). Add the fish and shrimp and watch carefully. The instant they are cooked, remove from the heat. Add the wine, chopped parsley, and dill. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with lemons, some really good bread, and some tomatoes, basil, garlic, and olive oil. Dip the bread in the soup and you’re in there.

Fish Stock

Makes 2 quarts

2 onions, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 stalks celery, with leaves, chopped

4 tablespoons olive oil

8–9 cups water

2 to 2 1/2 lbs of fish trimmings, heads, and bones, even shrimp shells

twist of lemon peel

1 bay leaf

2 cups white wine

salt and white pepper

Chop the vegetables. Add the olive oil to a large pot and sauté the vegetables over medium heat. When the vegetables are tender, add the water, fish trimmings, lemon peel, and bay leaf, and bring to a boil. Partially cover, and simmer over medium heat for 20–30 minutes. Add the wine and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 5 more minutes. Freeze for later use if you wish.

Chef’s note: You can purchase Tukas pastes at North Park Produce.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Didja know I did the first American feature on Jimi Hendrix?

Richard Meltzer goes through the Germs, Blue Oyster Cult, Ray Charles, Elvis, Lavender Hill Mob
Next Article

Reader Music Issue short takes

Obervatory's mosh pit, frenetic Rafael Payare, Lemonhead chaos, bleedforthescene, Coronado Tasting Room
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.