Name: Ttoro (Basque Peppery Fish Stew)
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: France
Ingredients: ¼ cup/30 g flour, seasoned with salt and pepper; 2 tablespoons olive oil; fried croûtes made with 1 baguette, sliced, fried in 4 to 5 tablespoons olive oil, and rubbed with a cut garlic clove; 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon; 1½ pounds/675 g mussels; 1½ pounds/675 g mixed fish fillets, with skin; 1½ quarts/1.5 liters water; 4 large scampi (langoustines), with heads; 1 bouquet garni; ½ cup chopped fresh parsley; 3 garlic cloves, chopped; 2 teaspoons ground dried espelette pepper, or 2 teaspoons paprika with a large pinch of cayenne pepper, more to taste; 1½ cups/375 ml. medium-dry white wine; salt; 1 pound/450 g fish heads and bones; 1 stalk celery, sliced; 2 onions, sliced; 1 tomato, peeled, seeded, and chopped; 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Country Cooking of France

By Anne Willan

Published 2007

About

Like all fish stews, Ttoro from the Basque country was originally designed to use flaky inexpensive fish with too many bones, such as hake, conger eel, mullet, and particularly gurnard, valued for its red skin. In the United States, I would suggest a mix of red snapper, jack, bream, pompano, and/or mackerel. At its simplest, Ttoro includes garlic, tomatoes, mussels for a salty bite, and the lively Espelette pepper of the Basque region (I find paprika laced with a generous pinch of cayenne t