Potato soup with fish meatballs like in a kindergarten

Technological card number 15.

Technology of cooking and quality requirements.

Since I have gutted but whole hake carcasses, I separate everything from the bones. Make a cut along the backbone, remove it, and then use the knife along the bones to separate the fillet. Honestly, I find it easier to do this by hand - I run my fingers along the bones and separate the fillet. The backbone separately, the bones separately, and we use the fillet. By the way, I also threw the bone into the soup, and at the end I took it out and threw it away, but that's beside the point.

Next, it says in the recipe that everything should be minced together with the skin. I started doing that, but I realized that even from an aesthetic point of view, dark specks in the meatballs are unlikely to please your child, and you as well. That's why I advise you to separate the fillet from the skin. Actually, it's a matter of seconds. Place it on the table with the skin facing down, hold the tail, and run a knife along the skin. Everything is ready. Onions for the meatballs must be blanched, that is, slightly boiled in boiling water. It becomes tastier, loses its bitterness. Pour boiling water over the onions just enough to cover it, and simmer on low heat for literally a minute, no more, drain on a sieve and rinse with cold water. That's it, the onions for the meatballs are ready.

Mince the fillet through a meat grinder. Add egg white, blanched onions, salt to the minced meat, and mix well. Here's a side note. According to the recipe, water (20 grams specified) should be added to the minced meat, but after defrosting the hake fillet, it was quite moist. So I didn't add any water. If you see that the minced fillet is dry, add water. If, on the contrary, it is too wet, drain some water by pressing the minced meat on a sieve with your hand.

Pour a liter of water into a saucepan and put it on the fire. Wash and peel the carrots and potatoes. Peel the onion and cut it into small cubes. The same goes for the carrots and potatoes - small cubes (potatoes slightly larger, carrots slightly smaller). Add the potatoes to the boiling salted water and cook for five minutes.

Place a frying pan on the heat, melt butter in it and add onions and carrots. Sauté them slowly over low heat until they become transparent and lightly golden, about 3-4 minutes.

Meanwhile, form the meatballs. The recommended weight for each meatball is about 20 grams, which is approximately the size of a large walnut.

After five minutes, add the sautéed onions and carrots to the potatoes. Bring to a boil and, without reducing the heat, add the fish meatballs. This is why I mentioned that I will keep some dishes clean for you. According to the recipe, the meatballs are cooked separately in a pot, kept warm, and then served individually on each plate. I assume this is done to ensure that everyone gets the same portion and number of meatballs, as it would be inconvenient to fish them out of a communal pot. However, we can certainly afford to skip this step. If anyone knows other reasons, I would be curious to find out.

After bringing the contents of the pot to a boil, reduce the heat to a minimum, cover with a lid, and simmer for another ten minutes. During this time, all the vegetables will be cooked through, and since the meatballs are relatively small in size, they will be cooked as well. Now, you can add salt and pepper to taste for yourself or your spouse, but remember that young children do not need pepper and should have less salt. Enjoy your meal!