Aljotta

Easy·30 min active + 30 min resting

Malta's garlicky fish soup — a broth built from whole fish and fish trimmings, heavy with garlic, tomato, and herbs, thickened with a handful of rice and finished with lemon. The frugal fisherman's pot.

Aljotta is the traditional Maltese fish soup, made from the day's lesser fish and trimmings with lots of garlic and tomato. Rice or a handful of pasta thickens it; mint and marjoram are the herbs.

Spoon up aljotta — a clear, golden, garlic-fragrant broth thick with rice and soft flakes of white fish, the tomato and lemon giving it brightness. Bite: deeply savory from the fish and garlic, herby with mint and marjoram, the rice making it a meal rather than a starter. Humble, restorative, and unmistakably Mediterranean — the soup of Maltese fishing villages.

Building the broth from whole fish and trimmings extracts maximum flavor cheaply; cooking the fish then flaking it back in keeps the flesh intact rather than shredded. Rice releases starch to lightly thicken the broth. Lemon added at the end keeps its brightness against the garlic-rich base.

Variations

With a handful of pasta instead of rice. With a poached egg. Richer with more tomato. With fennel. Made from a single large fish. Finished with grated cheese.

On the Palate

Where Aljotta sits in the Maltese flavor cloud

Ingredients

Serves 4

How it's made

8 steps · 30 min active + 30 min waiting

1
6 min
Soften 6 crushed garlic cloves and 1 chopped onion in 4 tbsp olive oil.
2
6 min
Stir in 3 chopped tomatoes and 1 tbsp tomato paste; cook 5 min.
3
5 min
Add 1.2 L water (or fish stock), a strip of lemon peel, mint, and marjoram; bring to a simmer.
4
3 min
Add 600 g cleaned mixed white fish (and any heads/trimmings in a bag for flavor).
5
16 min
Simmer gently 15 min until the fish is just cooked; lift out and flake, discarding bones.
Watch out
Lift the fish out the moment it turns opaque and flakes — a few minutes too long and it toughens; you'll return it at the end anyway.
6
13 min
Stir 80 g rice into the broth and cook 12 min until tender.
Watch out
Simmer the rice until tender and the broth thickens slightly as it releases starch — that light body is what carries the soup.
7
3 min
Return the flaked fish; season with salt, pepper, and the juice of 1 lemon.
Watch out
Squeeze the lemon in right at the end, off the boil — its brightness fades fast if it cooks, and it needs to cut the garlic base.
8
3 min
Serve hot with crusty bread.