Bouillabaisse

Name: Bouillabaisse ()
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 55 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: Serve 4
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 1 leek, finely sliced and rinsed; 1 fennel bulb, chopped; 4 slices of hake, pollack, haddock or ling; 1 large onion, chopped; 4 tbsp white wine; 1.8 kg/4 lb fish and shellfish such as follows:; 2 tbsp tomato purée; 4 large langoustines or tiger prawns, crushed with a rolling pin; 4 small red mullet or red bream, scaled and gutted; 3 tomatoes, peeled and chopped; 4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed with the flat edge of a knife or your hand; 1 thyme sprig; 2 rascasse, grey mullet or black bream, scaled, gutted and cut into portions; sea salt and freshly ground black pepper; crusty farmhouse bread, to serve; 1 handful of flat-leaf parsley, leaves only, roughly chopped; 4 tbsp olive oil; 2 John Dory or lemon sole, scaled, gutted and cut into portions; 2 tbsp aniseed-flavoured spirit, such as Pastis or Pernod; a large pinch of saffron threads

Preparation info

Serve
4

Difficulty
Easy
Ready in
1 hr 15

Appears in

French Brasserie Cookbook

By Daniel Galmiche

Published 2011

About

Bouillabaisse, an elaborate fish soup from Marseilles in the south of France, is the very essence of the sea. Originally the food of poor fishermen, who put in it whatever they hadn’t been able to sell that day, it has evolved into a voluptuous mix of succulent fish and shellfish, made enticing with herbs, spices and vegetables.

Ingredients

4 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 leek, finely sliced and rinsed

Europe
France
Stew
Fish course
Pescatarian
Provence
Mediterranean
Gluten-free

Method

Heat a little of the oil in a large, heavy-based or cast iron casserole pan over a medium heat and cook the onion, leek and fennel for 4–5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the tomatoes, tomato purée, garlic, thyme and saffron and cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the langoustines and stir until they are a deep orange colour. Add the wine and spirit and stir to deglaze.