La bouillabaisse de Fifine

• 2.7 kg/6 lb fish (see Fifine’s choice)

To make bouillabaisse, Fifine first prepares a mirepoix of vegetables by slicing the carrots, large, ripe, seeded tomatoes, Spanish onions, leeks, cloves of garlic and fennel bulbs into a large heat-proof casserole. She then adds a dried fennel stalk (or failing this a small glass of pastis), a strip of orange peel dried in the sun (or in a very low oven), bay leaves, sprigs of fresh thyme, spr