Other countries name their soups really cool names. Or maybe it’s just the language thing.  My current example is Waterzooi Belgian fish Stew with Flemish roots.  It’s origin in the East or West Flanders region of Belgium determines whether it’s made with fish or chicken.

 

 

I opted to go with fish to diversify this week’s protein and therefore today’s recipe is Gentse Waterzooi van Tarbot, or Ghent style Turbot stew.  Because Ghent was, and is tied to the sea, and meat was somewhat of a rarity in East Flanders centuries ago, this soup is chock full of chopped fish. Belgians are pretty passionate about their soup and exactly what kind of fish should be used is often the topic of healthy debate.  A very interesting article in the New York Times notes that purists will contend that a fish waterzooi should be based on Belgian perch, and perch alone. Others say that a good fish waterzooi will have eel, carp and pike along with perch. Still others will say that waterzooi should reflect all of Belgium and be a melange of perch, turbot, St. Pierre, mussels, crayfish and gray shrimp.  While all sounded good, I figured it’d be pretty hard to find eel, and if I did manage to find it, emotional trauma might ensue (I hate snakes…and all things slithery).  Therefore, the recipe I used I adopted from Saveur magazine which recommended using halibut, but I really think any white fish would work.